I'm trying to get "feel" of how much more work is involved in operating/owning a flintlock vs. a percussion cap smoothbore.
It's more than just how much more work is involved, it's whether or not you would like one more than the other, that is if you like muzzle loading at all.
Their ignition systems are different beasts. The flintlock spews a lot more smoke and hot gases out of the vent hole, the pan is flashing near one's face and the flint locks tend to have slightly slower lock time (although not always). Then there's the fine tuning of the lock and the constant adusting of the flint as it wears down. Fitting the flint into the jaws of the cock, the limitation of powder choice to black powder only, and aquiring all of the skills to efficiently shoot a flintlock and solve potential problems is a slightly longer learning curve.
Percussion caps, musket caps or 209 primers are more easily inserted onto a nipple for fast, reliable ignition.
Would you rather start a camp fire using a piece of flint and steel or would you rather uses matches or a BIC lighter?
One way can be more tedious and more work.
It's up to the individual to choose which they prefer.
Percussion guns are similar enough in loading and cleaning to determine if one likes muzzle loading enough to dive into it deeper.
Even the basic inexpensive rifles would allow someone to first get some flint or percussion shooting experience before building an expensive kit.
Used guns can be bought and resold again without much loss of money.
If someone had a friend or muzzle loading club in their area, a new shooter should inquire, visit and arrange to try out a few shots to see if they have a preference of guns. See what's involved with cleaning one after every shooting session.
Without doing that there are only books, videos and dedicated websites loaded with information and helpful tips.
Many of us are self taught by reading and then doing. There's books at the local library, magazine articles and archives here on THR.
Percussion is simply easier to do without a mentor and requires less hands on experience to start shooting right away. For instance, forgetting to load powder into a flintlock can be more troublesome than with a percussion gun. Not everyone has a CO2 ball discharger handy or a removable vent liner, and pulling a ball with a ball screw is not very easy. That can ruin someone's day. With a percussion gun, just take off the nipple and dribble a few grains of powder under it and then shoot the ball out, which only takes about 30 seconds to a minute.
Check out this sticky thread that lists Black Powder Videos 101. There's one about ignition systems:
http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=322119
