Steve this is a great father and son sport! You don’t have to kill game either unless of course you want to. Rifled versions are every bit as accurate at reasonably ranges as a modern rifle. Trick shooting with them is fun to do. If a person does decide to hunt with them it teaches one the disciplines of picking your shot. making the first shot count as you only have that one shot, getting your target in range by developing good stalking techniques and the patience to wait for the target to come to you, etc…
“A thing of beauty is a joy forever.” Your flintlock surely fills that quote. Somewhere in all my trash & treasures I have either an English or French gun flint, can’t remember which, that I found many years ago while digging in a field next to the James River near Buchanan, VA. This is a very historical area and has yielded many archaelogical finds over the years. The find was in the vicinity of the last outpost on the frontier if you were headed west/southwest, established in 1742 by a Robert Looney. He built a mill, an “ordinary” and operated a ferry across the James River. It was also the site of a Fort called Fort Fauquier completed about 1758. Seems like it would be prophetic if it was once again used in a flintlock. if I can find it and you’d like to have it would be happy to forward it to you.