A dampened recoil rest for supporting a rifle for enabling a shooter to operate the rifle with adjustable attenuation of recoil felt by the shooter, eliminating damage to the rifle by progressively absorbing or attenuating recoil, with the sight remaining on the target thereby eliminating a need to reacquire the target, without having to add additional weight to absorb the recoil, and with comfortable transfer of the recoil from the rifle to the shooter's shoulder. The rest includes a stationary base assembly, a rotating base assembly, a recoil attenuating assembly, and a rifle support assembly. The stationary base assembly is for attaching to a bench top. The rotating base assembly is rotatably attached to the stationary base assembly. The recoil attenuating assembly is operatively connected to the rotating base assembly and is for enabling the shooter to operate the rifle with adjustable attenuation of the recoil felt by the shooter, with the sight remaining on the target thereby eliminating a need to reacquire the target, without having to add additional weight to absorb the recoil, and with the comfortable transfer of the recoil from the rifle to the shooter's shoulder. The rifle support assembly is operatively connected to the recoil attenuating assembly and is for supporting the rifle.