I did most of these things when I was a kid and managed to live. When I was 10, I stuck a ball of clay on a board and pushed a .22 shell into the ball. Then I (you know you see this coming) shot the .22 with a BB gun. There was a pop that made my ears ring and a sudden pain that left me breathless. The .22 case hit me in the middle of my chest and left a bloody, seeping, superficial flesh wound. I'm proud to say that I staggered backward, but did NOT drop the BB gun.

I think I'm going to leave that one out of my things to do with my kids (5 y.o. boy and 1 y.o. girl).

Has anyone mentioned bottle rocket fights? The nanny culture has long since made the small bottle rockets illegal in TX and probably the rest of the U.S. (they were sold by the gross pack - 12 rockets to a small pack, 12 packs to the gross). Man those bottle rocket fights were great, sometimes the whole neighborhood would be involved. Dad's (and the occasional mom with bandaids) would be out helping their kids wage war. And each side would have a 5 gallon bucket with water and a shovel to put out the occasional fire. Great, potentially dangerous, fun!