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Get a flintlock rifle. Clean the bore after every shot. You will put holes into holes. I have a Lyman Great Plains Rifle, .50 caliber flintlock. I can go to the range and be happy and have a great time all afternoon and maybe shoot 15 or 20 shots. I have a great time. I don't need to be shooting quickly or rapidly pulling the trigger over and over again to bast through 30 rounds of 223 to be happy. Cleaning the bore, then loading, then aiming and pulling the trigger is a process and if one can be "one" with the rifle then the process itself becomes a lot of recreation and fun. Those cool kids with their tactical AR's and all their mags and loads of 223 ammo, they all turn their heads to look when the flintlock fires off and the cloud of real black powder smoke fills the shooting benches. There's no shortage of real black powder, at least i don't think there is. I bought 20 pounds of FFg (for loading the main charge) and 5 pounds of FFFFg (for priming the pan) and a bunch of lead round balls several years ago, and I am all set. You can get a caplock, but I'm not sure how easy it is to find the caps these days. Pieces of flint are not being hoarded. Lead round balls are not being hoarded.
If you decide to give it a try, check out the place where I got my rifle and supplies, Dixon Muzzleloading Shop in PA. They explained everything I needed and what to do, how to do it, etc. They even give every customer a booklet that goes over, in precise details, how to do this shooting and how to clean the rifle.
Remember my motto, "Nobody's hoarding flint!"
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