Been away from the forum for a while and jumped into this topic a tad later than normal. The original post was interesting and it relates to the American experience early on our frontier. It also relates to a very hot topic in the USA, which is long term survival after the collapse/apocalypse, etc.
OK, flintlocks are interesting. In the USA we have 50 states and each has a different set of rules for firearms ownership and for hunting, in addition to Federal rules. However there tends to be generalities. Most states have separate hunting seasons for modern firearms, archery, and primitive firearms (muzzleloaders).
Because of the near universal dedicated blackpowder hunting seasons everywhere in the USA, human nature and the free market being what it is, most of the muzzleloaders in use here nowadays are anything but primitive. They will be inline striker fired with a 209 shotgun primer in a weather-proof arrangement and mounted with a scope. The firing chambers in the barrel are optimized for pre-measured, compressed pellets of blackpowder substitute. The rifling twists on the barrel, typically .50 caliber, are optimized for a modern .45 caliber hollowpoint pistol bullet in a .50 caliber plastic polymer sabot jacket.
One company, Savage, even makes a muzzloading version of the Savage 110 bolt action rifle and it can use blackpowder, blackpowder substitute, or shotgun powder. It is very expensive and made in limited batches.
So, yeah, most new muzzleloaders sold here nowadays are not 'primitive' by any means. They are simply a modern firearm that doesn't use a brass casing for the powder and bullet. I can even get a .50 cal muzzloading barrel for my 12ga Mossberg 500 pump shotgun that makes it very similar to the previously mentioned modern muzzleloaders.
However, IIRC, one state, Pennsylvania, in an effort to enforce the 'primitive' part of the equation still requires a flintlock. The last I checked there was an American company selling a stainless steel flintlock that you could mount a scope on that had firing chambers in the barrel that are optimized for pre-measured, compressed pellets of blackpowder substitute. The rifling twists on the barrel, typically .50 caliber, are optimized for a modern .45 caliber hollowpoint pistol bullet in a .50 caliber plastic polymer sabot jacket. Ah yes, rules are just speed bumps on the highway of life.
Anyone who has fired a flintlock under low light conditions or has dealt with them in wet weather understands why everyone on the American frontier switched to percussion caps as fast as possible. There was a thriving business at trading posts converting flintlocks to percussion caps, and some of those people were a long ways from anything resembling civilization outside the fort/trading post.
This wasn't just a matter of practicality in use, it was also a matter of supply. What a lot of people don't understand is that the North American continent, compared to places like Europe, has a serious lack of decent flint deposits. Surprised? America is so rich in so many resources, our shortage of decent flint deposits is rather weird.
Most of what passes for naturally found flint in the USA isn't very high quality. During the flintlock era, good quality English and French gun flints were much sought after and brought a premium in America, even at the mountain man fur trapper rendezvous far out on the frontier. So, if you needed to rely upon the trading post or rendezvous for decent gun flints (in addition to lead and powder) you might as well rely upon the trading post or rendezvous for percussion caps.
So, before one runs around thinking that flintlocks are the forever weapon, ask yourself where your sources of decent quality gun flints comes from. Are they all imported? Is there a source in country? Is it 1000 kilometers away?
The native tribes in America took to firearms rapidly and it was their #1 item of trade and acquisition (followed by steel knives and axes, iron pots, wool blankets, mirrors and beads, trade points, plus coffee and sugar). The ones that fought the Whites a lot, like the Comanche, made do with flintlocks and bows for as long as possible since they could get the poor quality local flint to work but had no access at all to percussion caps unless they took them off of the body of a dead White man.
Muzzleloading smoothbores stayed on the frontier for a long time into the cartridge era. However, this was more a matter of need vs economics than anything else. Most of the settlers (farmers primarily) on the frontier during the great westward expansion after the Civil War were America's working poor looking for a better life.
Several years prior, at the start of the Civil War, the US government sent purchasing agents to Europe and bought up every inventory of obsolete military surplus firearms in Europe they could find. It allowed them to arm a lot of men rapidly till better guns could be made, but mostly it served keep them out of the hands of the Confederacy. These guns were typically caplocks, and many were converted from being flintlocks originally. They were generally smoothbore and usually about .55 to .58 caliber (about like a 28 gauge shotgun).
After the war, the US government sold these guns off for extremely cheap prices in bulk just to get them out of the warehouses. Repeating, cartridge firing weapons were available but very expensive and so was the ammo. Families without much cash to spend would buy one of these surplus muskets at a hardware store for dirt cheap and out on the frontier they would use it as both a musket and as a shotgun. They were farmers, not soldiers, and it was all they needed.
Right now, instead of a flintlock as an apocalypse survival weapon I would chose a modern made, recurve style crossbow with a scope, or a take down bow, long or recurve. The recurve crossbow and a regular non-compound bow, instead of compound, would allow the use of wooden arrow shafts which you should never use with a compound. Even used carbon fiber arrows and bolts should be inspected carefully before being used in a compound bow or compound crossbow. If you want the ultimate in long term self sufficiency that is the ticket.
As for myself, for long term survival I have a take down long bow, an air rifle, a handgun, a .22 rifle, and a shotgun with both smoothbore and rifled barrels. The shotgun I can reload with blackpowder if need be and I have a large supply of primers. I also know how to re-prime a primer if need be and I know how to make blackpowder suitable for use in a firearm (not all blackpowder is created equal).
