I am cultivating an interest in black powder at the moment, and am curious about flintlock as opposed to caplock ignition.

I have seen people shoot flintlocks and the delay between the falling of the hammer and discharge is very evident.
I'll guess that a percussion cap has a faster lock time?

Is this the main difference? A flint is going to be ready all the time and not likely to get knocked off when you most need it like I've seen caps do on a BP revolver.

That's all there is to it?

Boy Traditional Muzzleloading sites argue this all the time. It all comes down to quality components.

I have both flinters and cappers and not all flinters nor cappers are created equall. If we take the typical untooned/modified mass production caplock and flintlock. In general we could say that the caplock would be more reliable with faster ignition time. Yes caps can fall off but if you give them a slight pinch they will grip the nipple and not fall off. Caps can be bad, or get damp causing hang or misfires. A caplocks mainspring need only be strong enough to cause the cap to go off and lock geometry is less critical. Flintlocks can be a little more tricky. THe Frizzen must be properly hardened to spark well. The Cock must hold the flint at an agle that allows the flint to scrape metal from the frizzen and not crush the flint. It is metal from the frizzen that is the actuall spark. The mainspring and frizzen spring must be ballanced to some degree in order to function. The touch hole must be of a large enough size to allow sparks to pass to the main charge. THe touch hole must be properly centered both virtically and horizontally with the pan for best ignition. The flint must be sharp. You must not have too much prime in the pan (1/3 to 1/2 full is plenty), the prime should never be level with the touch hole. The spark igites the prime which should flash creating more sparks which increase the potential for sparks to get through the touch hole to ignite the main charge. This is much faster than creating a fuze to the main charge. There are ways to make the pan more weather resistant for shooting on damp or rainy days. A flint can fall out.

Now if you take a flintlock where the lock has been tuned by a compotent muzzleloading gunsmith or you have him install a high quality lock that also has been tuned (Chambers/Siler and L&R are the best) lock time will be dramtically improved. If you also add a Chambers White Lightning coned touch hole liner you shorten lock time again. With all this it would take a high speed timer to tell the difference in lock time.

It is possible to shoot skeet with a flintlock smoothbore. I have. I hit 50% that day. I hit 75-80% with my modern gun.

I enjoy shooting both types but have more fun with the flinter.

As far as which one to get first. I started with caplocks but it really does not matter. The flintlock sounds harder than it is and does take a little more care in damp weather but it is not overly complicated. Pedersoli and Lyman put out decent locks although Chamber/Siler and L&R locks are still better. THe central nerous system of any flinter is truely the lock. A good lock will make shooting flinters a joy. Poor locks have probably run of more potential flint shooters than any other thing. L&R lock company makes a line of replacement locks for nearly all mass produced muzzleloaders as well as their semi-custom/custom line. Chambers/Siler markets only to the semi-custom and custom market.

I hope that was helpfull.

I think 54JNoll has it just about right. I'd add that flinters are simply more challenging - and that's the entire point with muzzleloaders to start with. I have and use both styles, but I surely enjoy learning to work with the nuances of the flinter and find it much more satisfying than the percussion rifles I have.

Flinters have some other challenges beyond just learning how to reduce lock time. They tend to cause one to flinch quite a bit more. I've found myself doing this many times, and have to practice and concentrate to avoid it.

They can also be a bit of a challenge in rain or wet snow. Dry snow is no problem but the nearly melted stuff hanging on every leaf and twig is the worst. But again, it's a challenge that can be met and conquered - or you can go the easy way and simply avoid it.

Brent

Sir: Start with a quality flint gun, where the gun FITS you very well for the shooting you wish to do. If hunting, pick a reasonable caliber. Mastery will soon follow with diligence. Join the (USA) National Muzzleloading Rifle Association for extensive supply, gun, and shooting information. But by all means shoot. Good Shooting, ned

Oooops forgot to add that my 50% with the flinter on the skeet range ws shooting singles only.

And yes the flash of the prime can cause some serious flinching. The first and only time I got my father to shoot my flinter he flinched so bad he missed the coke can at 15 yards with an oz of #7 shot.