All of my neighborhood friends and I shot BB guns as kids. We never had BB gun wars, but we did do stupid things like shooting cigarettes out of each other's mouths. We were all very good shots however and I recall no injuries.
Nevertheless, I did not allow my boys to go through the BB gun phase due to concern about the bad safety habits I'd just have to break when they were old enough for .22s and shotguns.
When I did start them it was on .22 single shots and they understood from the beginning that the rifle was capable of killing a rabbit or squirrel or one of them. I let the boys walk with me quail hunting with their rifle and ammo but I had the bolt in my pocket until we'd take a break and shoot pine cones out of the tops of our longleaf pines.
When they got .410 single shots the first shot for each was at the edge of a pond into the wet mud on the bank, so they could see for themselves how powerful the weapon in their hands was. All three of them grew up to be hunters you'd feel safe to spend a morning in a duck blind or an afternoon in the field with...Geo
