After reviewing this gun offering on many different web sites I totally agree with the other posts suggestions that you choose to spend a little more and buy the Lyman.
Traditions guns do not have the quality of the Lyman guns which explains a good part of why they cost less.
Features like being able to shoot pellets are more of a gimmick than a real value because a flintlock needs to use real granulated black powder in the pan to get a reliable ignition and if you buy 3Fg black powder to prime with you can use it both for a main powder charge and to prime the pan.
Assuming you can buy real black powder in your area you will probably find that its price varies between $17 and $24 a pound. Keep in mind that a pound weighs 7000 grains.
At $20/pound and shooting a 80 grain powder load which is very suitable for a .50 cal gun when hunting deer, the cost per shot for the powder would be 23 cents.
At 80 a 80 grain load one pound of powder will provide 85 shots leaving enough powder to prime the pan for each shot.
I just checked two sites for their prices for Pyrodex pellets and Seven7seven pellets.
The Pyrodex pellets cost 30 cents each and the T7 cost 34 cents each.
These are in 50 grain equivalents and 50 grains is IMO insufficient in a .50 cal gun for hunting deer. That means you would have to use 2 pellets per shot (100 grain equivalent) for a cost of about $0.64. That's 278 percent more expensive than granulated black powder.
As you may know, muzzleloading rifles have definite likes about their loads. Most .50 cal guns are very accurate with loads in the 70-90 grain area. Many do not like 100 grains of powder and are quite inaccurate when loads that "hot" are fired in them.
With the pellets your stuck with using a 50, 100 or 150 grain load while with granulated powder you can choose to load whatever you want to use.
(A 150 grain powder load in a .50 caliber gun is excessive and will exceed the guns maximum load).
A removable breech plug may sound like a good idea but it is totally unnecessary for cleaning a muzzleloader.
Not only is is unnecessary but unless you spend extra time removing and re-lubricating it every time you clean your gun it can become stuck in place. This, in essence makes cleaning the gun a bigger chore than to have a traditional breech which is not designed to be removed.
Perhaps you like the modern plastic stocks but generally speaking I feel they are a cheap substitute for real wood.
Other than lowering the manufacturing price and the selling price I can think of no added benefit for them. In fact, I notice that some of the major CF companies are now offering real wood stocks for their guns at a greatly increased price.
All in all, as I said before, Go with the Lyman.
