The dear hunter is a nice rife . As I recall it has a drum that screw into the barrel the nipple screws into that if it dose then yes it can be converted.
Here is some advice though from someone who has hunted many a season with a flint and is getting kinda of long in the tooth and low on lead.
First ,flint and cap have only one thing in common and thats they load from the same end after that its a whole new world.
In buying a flint you don’t always get what you pay for. I have owned a fine tradition that would light about 80% of the time. The flash hole was just to low and to small. TC makes a nice hawken with a flint as dose laymn but both have frizin problems. I would suggest that if you really want to go to a flintlock then look at track of the wolf and build you a fine gun for around 400.
Be ready for a big learning curve as it is a new world. Once you learn the in and outs though you will love it. I now use a Hershel house 1750 Cumberland long gun in 54 cal that is as or more consistent then any cap gun I have ever owned,

I would leave the caplock a caplock and purchase a flinter.
I like the TC and have one in caplock. I bought a Lyman Great Plains Rifle, in flintlock because it was the only one available in Lefthand.
The production rifles definitely do have problems with consistent ignition. In my Lyman it was not the pan or frizzen, they are still making excellent sparks, it was the touchhole. With the factory touchhole it would fire only about 1/3 of the time. The factory rifles are not the only ones with this problem, I have seen a few custom guns with unreliable ignition also.
I bought a few extra touchhole liners and modified them. I drilled the hole out to .080 and then radiused the entrance to the hole with a carbide ball grinder bit .100 dia. to the depth of the screw slot. Then I opened up the back of the liner with a #2 center drill until there was approx. .040 to .050 flat between the radius and the cone from the center drill. If I turn my gun over and tap it I want to see a few grains of my main charge trickle out into the pan.
Now the spark doesn't have to find a small hole at the bottom of a screw slot and then find its way down that little hole to the charge. When the powder in the pan goes off the spark is directed into the flash hole by the .100 radius where it immeditately encounters the main charge. The result is ignition almost as fast as a caplock.
The key word here is "almost". Even with the fastest flinter it will be a whole new ball game. Lock time is greatly increased and you must learn all over how to hold your rifle and follow through.
As an example; I had a doe at about 20 yards, stopped. My rifle was resting on a sandbag. Just as I pulled the trigger she took a quick step. By the time everything happened she had moved far enough for the ball to hit the ground just behind her. If I had been holding the rifle I could have followed through. As it was I had no chance.

I also found in my early shooting that although I was grouping good it was not in the same spot as my bench groups. As a lefthander, my groups were low and to the left. It took a lot of practce to shoot to the same spot offhand as when benched.

Low and to the left is caused from pulling the trigger and then looking over the sites when you here the flint fall everyone goes through that at first.
If your lock were that slow I would look for a faster lock LOL
Just kidding it sure can seem like that though.
As a side not I have found that Lymn and TC frizzens to be either to hard or to soft they do spark but not as much as I would like. They are however very good companies and should not be over looked
I use a siller lock with all tumblers and trips have been polished to a high shine. I never realized how much this will speed up you lock tell I as a fella at a shoot that had a very fast rifle.
Second the touchhole must be at mid point so as not to get covered with powder. As to the size of the touchhole, mine is close to 1/16 in size and I have seen bigger. What you are looking for is the flame from the pan to ignite the main charge not the powder in the pan. If yore touch hole is to small and to low then the powder ignites the main charge and you get a delay kind of FFFFFSSSTT BOOM!!!! You want a smooth CLI.... BOOM.
Also resist the temptation to run your thumb on your frizzen this leaves oil and will kill your spark. I carry a piece of dry muslin to clean off my frizzen and the bottom side of the flint
NEVER LET ANYONE TOUCH YOU FRIZZEN lol
Well anyways keep you powder dry and your rock sharp
Nothing like a flash in the pan

[ This Message was edited by: captchee on 2003-09-22 18:25 ]