Sarah: Glad to have you stay around and there is no need to keep your mouth shut.
Questions like yours gives us the opportunity to share our knowledge with others.
Besides, over the years I've found that even the simple questions are the same questions others would like to ask but never do. Whether this is because they don't want to stand out in the crowd or they don't want to be thought of as unknowing I don't know but sometimes their silence is deafening.
As for your interest in Flintlocks, good for you!
I would say the idea of buying an original to shoot may not be the best idea though.
Original Flintlocks are very expensive and often, even though they look perfectly safe, are dangerous to try to shoot. 150 + years of internal corrosion can weaken them and cannot be determined without special testing and disassemsmbly.
A better idea might be to buy a modern recreation of known worth. The initial investment would be far less and the ability to recoup your money, should you decide to sell it would be much easier.
Because of the equipment and knowledge requred to successfully shoot a Flintlock, perhaps you could find someone in your area who would be willing to let you shoot their gun and personally show you the proper proceedures required for loading and priming their gun.
Many areas in the U.S.A. have muzzleloading clubs which hold monthly shoots and these people will be more than glad to help you.
I can say this because, even though I don't know every muzzleloader in the country, a more helpful and frendly lot of people cannot be found anywhere.
Be advised though, once you've lined up the sights on the target, squeezed the trigger and heard the "click-foofBOOM" and peer thru the smoke haze to see a nice hole in the target right where you were aiming, it will be very difficult to resist reloading and doing it again.
This sport is very addictive.
