An excellent rifle, excellent caliber...here's a few opinions from my experiences with TC.54cal Hawkens:

The .530/230grn ball will take most large game in NA without any concerns at all...patched ball hunting loadsare pretty fast,give a pretty flattrajectory, and are very accurate.

The huge, heavy, expensive.54cal conicals are great for moose and some bears, but overkill in the deer hunting department, and the recoil will punish you.

I settled onHornady.530s and TC's .018" prelubed pillow ticking patches (1+3/8" diameter);

I also use an Oxyoke prelubed wonderwad over the powder when using stout hunting loads...improves a number of things like velocity, consistency, accuracy, more lube in the bore to reduce fouling, etc.

Yes, TC'sFlintlock assemblies are the same,are interchangeable, and your new purchase will have the new improved Flint lock assembly on it...100% reliable, good sparks, long flint life, etc.

3/4" (by 7/8" long) Tom Fuller black english flints are hands down the best in TC's new redsigned locks, averaging 60-80 shots per flint;

Be sure to get a 'ball puller', and I've found TC's 4-N-1 Speed Loaders to be the top of the heap of all speedloaders on the market...the built in short starter makes it an outstanding unit.

I've found the 3grn plunger /dispenser type pan primers to be excellent, throwing a just the right amount of Goex 4F for TC locks;

Hope this helps...