Target Bow VS Hunting Bow - Is There A Difference?

I've got the Concept X40 here, I've got the RX9 here, same furniture and I want to see which one of these two bows are going to be the most accurate at a distance of 20 yards. One of the most asked questions I've ever received was would a flagship target bow be so much more accurate than a flagship hunting bow and today I'm going to put that to the test and to do the comparison I've got the flagship Hoyt Concept X40 here which is my target bow of choice this year and I've got the Carbon RX9 bow from Hoyt which is the flagship bow which is my choice for the hunting season this year and I've got the same accessories fitted on both bows. I've got the Axel Achieve Sight, the AAE Freak Show Rest and for stabilizers I've got the 30 inch Conquest Smackdown front bar and a 15 inch Smackdown side bar and then I'm shooting Eastern Pro Tour arrows. I'm shooting a 420 out of my target bow and I'm going to shoot a 380 out of the hunting bow just purely because the RX9 spec is a little bit better, the performance is better and the 380 shoots better from this bow. It's the same flagship arrows and for me it's important to make sure everything is the same and it's just the bows that's going to be different and just to show you that we are going to be consistent this is the Axel Achieve, the Conquest front rod and side rod, the AAE Freak Show Rest. On both of the bows I've got the Speciality Archery Peep Sight with the clarifier in there so we're going to shoot on an IFAA five spot face. I'm going to shoot five arrows on one spot. The X is about one and a half inches and I'm hoping of the 20 arrows that I'm going to shoot out of each bow is that I'm going to try and shoot all my arrows inside the X. This is arrow number one of 20. Making sure that was a good shot and that's a spot on X. I am expecting the Concept X to be a little bit easier to hit the X but you never know. This is my competition bow that I am shooting a lot. Everything is set up nicely. I'm shooting a quarter just because release age and I'll be shooting this release also with the RX9. You can hear carbon on carbon there. It's a tad low. I'm just going to put this down one or two clicks. That was low. That was low but that's me not shooting a good shot there and after I've made the adjustments of wanting to shoot higher I ended up shooting this one arrow low. This in essence is not a bad grouping. I know this was me. That's why I'm doing the test. It's still inside the five circle. I wanted to keep everything in the X but it is what it is so let's go for round number two. The reason why I'm shooting on one specific spot is after the 20 arrows I want to see what that grouping size is going to be and I'm expecting maybe hitting a few fletches or hitting a knock here or there but in essence it's about the grouping size for me. Round number two. That should be on the money. I must say I'm actually quite nervous shooting in front of the camera the whole time. Five shots so the grouping's inside the X. I need to just make sure that I get nice and still and steady that I can sort of get a nice centered group there but overall I'm happy with what I'm seeing there. Going on round number three. So what I am finding with my target bow and I've seen this outdoors as well is I don't really get much left and right movement so my grouping is more vertical than what it is horizontal. So the only reason why I'm shooting a little bit low maybe a little bit high is because that's where the shot's actually going off. So the whole bow is nicely set up and nicely balanced and I'm happy with that. Round number three. Done. The round number three after 15 arrows. Got the grouping still inside the X. Happy about that. We're going for our last end of five arrows. Completing the 20 arrows then we're gonna head over to the RX9. So the reason why I'm doing this indoors today it's a very cold day today. It's extremely windy. My plan is to do the same test but at 50 yards or 50 meters just to sort of make a true comparison between the two. So it's an early morning. It's a cold start. Happy with my shooting. It's a bow I know and accuracy is good. So let's go for the last round. Last round of five arrows. I've made one mistake so far which was a little bit low but the grouping overall is pretty good. But on the money in the X. Let's go look 20 arrows done. Let's go check out the grouping. This was the last end. I've shot 20 arrows so far at 20 yards with my Concept X and this was the grouping size that I got. I am using high-end products on the site to release the rest of the arrows. And as you can see it's sort of in the lower half of the X. But in my opinion that's a pretty decent grouping. I am happy with it. That was not a great shot at all. But overall that is like an inch and a half grouping. So I'm going to grab the RX-9 and see if we can shoot better than that. So this is the RX-9 Ultra 33 inch axle to axle. I am shooting eastern pro tours with this but I'm shooting a 380 spine just because the performance of this bow is you know far better than the Concept X. The let off on this RX-9 is higher than what it is on the Concept X. So it's a little bit of a different hold at the back. And I'm expecting maybe this bow to have a little bit more movement left and right versus my Concept X. This is round number one of four. Shooting five arrows on that spot. I think that's money. It aims really well. I'm actually quite surprised. The thing that does get me a little bit after having shot that Concept X is the let off. This being higher I need to make sure that I am a little bit more smoother with my release and on the trigger. I've heard a lot of people say that if you take a 70 pound bow and you take it down, take the poundage down, it's not going to be that accurate. This is a 70 pound bow. I'm shooting this at 60. I've taken it down 10 pounds and I'm hitting the X's all the time. So it's not difficult shooting. It's actually very, very nice. So I was expecting the bow to be a little bit more sensitive to left and right movements. But that is the best grouping I've shot the whole morning so far. This is very tight. This is all on the X. This was my first arrow. I shot this a little bit right. And after making that adjustment, that's on the money. Round number two. That's money. Should be good. I am actually very surprised on this 34-ish axle to axle bow. It's six inches shorter than my Concept X40. It aims well. This is definitely a little bit more of a reflex riser, but it aims well. It's not twitchy at all. I'm not getting any left and right shots. Yes, I've got long rods on and so on, but this is why it's a nice comparison having target gear on a hunting bow, shooting it at a distance of 20, which is very relatable to most, and just seeing if I can get those nice inside out X's. And it's working well. I'm actually very happy. A little bit shaky on that one, but that's in the middle inside X's on all of them. Very happy. Maybe that'll be my new indoor target bow. So after round two, five arrows inside out X's on the legs, I am really happy what I'm seeing here. Okay, we are starting with round number three. Should be money. Same shot as with the Concept. That one just went off low, sitting just outside the X. Now that's the thing shooting indoors, hitting that X the whole time, is just expecting it and wanting to shoot it. It's just building up and when you're going to miss that X. Still a good group. The others are inside out X's, just the one bad shot. So we've just missed recording these arrows, but this was my second last shot that I've just shot below the X. It just went off there. Was actually a pretty good shot. The dot just was not sitting in the X. But the rest of the arrows are nicely in the X there. In my opinion, still an extremely good grouping. And the thing that surprises me a little bit is I'm also not getting any left and rights for hunting bows. Some hunting bows are just very twitchy and this bow is not. This is our last end. A little bit shaky on the release there, but that's good. Yeah, well an interesting round. Let's go check out the grouping sizes and just do a comparison. So this was the last end. All of these arrows are nice and in the X. This area on the left hand side, very close. I'll fight for that one. So in my opinion, that's also an X. So of the 20 arrows that I have shot, I've missed one X with both. And it will be nice to just do a comparison between the two, just to see what difference there's going to be in the grouping sizes. And if I look at it on this target and the other one, this might be a little bit more, a little bit bigger, but let's do a proper comparison. So what an interesting morning doing the comparison between a high-end target bow and a high-end hunting bow, shooting top-end products on both bows, the same furniture, same arrows. And this is the grouping that I got with the Concept-X. I've shot 20 arrows, I've missed the X once. And this was the RX-9, also missed the X once. And one on the line there. I wasn't quite expecting them to be so close. And I actually want to ask you guys, which one do you think is the best grouping for you? The target bow is the bow that I'm shooting a lot. I am competing this year at the World Games with this specific bow and the same setup that I've shot this morning. And the RX-9 is something that I set up yesterday and I quickly tuned it and I started it in this morning. It's got a different grip, it's got a different draw cycle. I'm shooting this at the lower level setting on this specific cam and I shot a really, really nice grouping. I'm going to do the same test outdoors at a longer distance and then I think that's where there might be a little bit of a bigger difference. But overall, I'm actually extremely happy. So in my opinion, a high-end hunting bow at a distance of 20 meters is just as accurate as a high-end target bow if you just compare these two targets. So give me your thoughts in the comments below. Remember the X is about a one and a half inches in size and diameter. Tell me what you think, which one you believe actually won this comparison. If you like this content, please subscribe. We're going to do more. Hope to see you on the next video.