Comfortable Benchrest Recipe:

Have the rifle stock fitted to you by a pro.
Get the trigger down to 3 to 4 pounds, short and crisp.
Install a quality stock mounted recoil pad,
Wear a shooting vest or PAST recoil pad if weather is warm and clothing is thin.
Use a scope with a decent eye relief and mount it well forward.

Set aside the standard issue POS "screwjack" fore arm rest.
Sit with your stomach touching the bench AND your back straight.
Use just enough quilts, boxes, sandbags to build your own support structure at both the front and back.
Fine tune the support structure to where the crosshairs are on target without you holding it.

[Now all you have to do is shoot it without screwing things up.]

Slide in, take it in your arms, snug it up, target, do whatever it is you do for your personal breathing pattern and fire, all within 10 seconds from first glimpse to firing.

If you can't get it done in 10 seconds. Stop. Put it on safe. Look up. Ask yourself if you are done screwing around and are ready to shoot.

When the answer comes back "yes". Start again and shoot as soon as the crosshairs are on the bullseye. The longer you screw around looking through the scope without doing something the harder it will hit you until you are just mentally begging for it to be over with. More important, taking too long is LOUSY training for hunting. [Even moderate kickers will hit you harder when you take too long.]

BTW, this is for sighting in. Once sighted in, get away from the bench and into field conditions or into field poses, i.e. beside or in front of the bench rest.

Of course all of this will require that you do things that make you look different from the rest of the herd. I guess you have to ask if you care. If you show up with a rifle with some 'nads to it, then you are already different from the herd by a fair margin. For folks that need a gentler, kinder experience, then consider Sheridan Air Rifle, 5mm, 4x scope -- very light recoil, low report, low risk of scope eye. Not much for performance but it can help sharpen up your shooting form -- all in the privacy of your back yard.

EKM