Can muriatic acid be used to etch zinc intagllio plates?

I am a printmaker and wish to etch at home. As I'm a private individual I'm having a hard time bying hydrochloric acid, which is what we used in college to etch zinc. I don't care for the way nitric acid bites the plates. My questions are: can muriatic acid ⇦ on eBay or Amazon [affil link] be used for etching zinc plates?; if so will there be a difference between it and a 7 part water, to 1 part acid solution of pure hydrochloric?; will it bite straight down like hydro, or down and out like nitric?

Muriatic acid is Hydrochloric acid but you should consider switching to copper plates for etching and using ferric chloride ⇦ on eBay or Amazon [affil link] solution for very fine line quality.