Here’s a vid of the two stage ignition of a flintlock, the first flash is the FFFF black powder in the priming pan igniting, and the main charge igniting moments later
The present difficulties centering around the two THR’s aren’t as simple as the board springing from Oleg Volk’s vision and then dirty thieves stealing it from him. Anybody who is not one of the principals in the suit is talking out of his or her ass when they want to give you the “true story.” if you’ve picked a side in that case, it is absolutely not because you have all the facts. The stuff Volk posts at .org is strictly his (spun) version. This will be sorted out in court, not on the Internet, and promoting one side or the other is ignorance-based cheerleading at best.
It’s worse than that. Black powder absorbs moisture from the air and also contains sulfur, and this nasty combination means that if you don’t clean it you’ll end up producing sulfuric acid which will eat away at your gun. You don’t have to be completely anal like I am and clean it the moment you get home from the range, but you certainly don’t want to let that black powder residue just sit there for any great length of time.
Most of the folks I know think that it is more bother than it is worth.
I personally enjoy it, and I don’t mind the high maintenance aspect of it.
You can avoid the worst of the fouling/corrosion issues by using a Black Powder substitute like Pyrodex, but it’s still a lot of hassle compared to metallic cartridges, and it’s still quite pricey (at least here).