What I do...

Drop the ramrod down the bore. It should all but disappear. That usually means the rifle is not loaded. Because the ramrod is as long as the barrel. So if it disappears, that means that it is falling back to the cone. The problem is when the rifle has an after market ramrod. BUT then hold your finger over the nipple and blow hard into the barrel. Can you feel the air passing through the bolster and nipple? That means it is not loaded and not clogged. Some places by the way, frown on you blowing air through their rifle barrels. Why, I have no idea. Other then they claim that the breath can cause condensation which in turn can cause rust. My response usually is... and you don't swab the rifle bore and wipe off the finger prints after you inspect a rifle? But that is one way to check if it is not loaded. The problem with a bore light.. you drop it down, the light lands on the roundball and shines back at you. What do you see... a light.

Next, c0ck the hammer slowly. Make sure it locks on the half c0ck. Sometimes if it does not... you have to c0ck the rifle and actually fire it. The fly gets strange in the lock sometimes and needs to actually fall through. But make sure the rifle has a half c0ck. When it is in half c0ck.. slap the lock kind of hard. See if it fires itself? Now wiggle the hammer. Is it good and tight? Did you see the lock move in its stock? Maybe needs a good tightening. I like to pull the lock and look at the back of them, but some people just plain FORBID this. On the back of the lock I like to look for fouling and rust. If there is fouling the fit of the lock in the stock is sloppy and it is allowing burnt powder to drift back there. I purchased a T/C Hawkins Flintlock on line from a gun site. When it got to my house, I checked it and it had a lot of crud back there. Turns out, the rifle was a kit and they kind of over did their fit there. Which means every time I shoot the rifle, I have to pull the lock and scrub both front and back, dry it, oil it and replace it.

C0ck the rifle and put a cloth that you fold a few times over the nipple. Pull the trigger. Is there a lot of play in the trigger? Does it break nice and clean? Does it pound that cloth? I have seen it actually cut the cloth. This means there is a good trigger spring under it. Also you can check on how true the hammer hits the nipple. Look at the cloth and see the mark.

Check the nose of the hammer. Have then been cleaning it? A rusted hammer nose is not good. It usually means down the road it has to be replaced.

Check the stock over carefully for cracks. Pay attention to the forearm, around the tang, especially behind it, and along the edge of the lock. Some people like to really load these things and they can actually damage the wood.

Last check the over all appearance for rust. I like to bore light the barrel and see if it is pitted, rusty, scratched, etc. If you have no bore light, take a piece of tin foil. Roll that into a ball SMALLER then the size of the bore. Drop that down the bore. Now shine a flashlight to the side of the barrel, down the bore. The light will reflect off the tin foil and give you somewhat of a look at the bore. When your done, dump the tin foil out.

If you can get that rifle for $150.00 it is a good deal. Even if the barrel is in bad shape. A lot of the things I do is to get bargaining points should I not like the price. Good luck. Nice find by the way.