A nice 14 in 6" is a target shooters dream. Handsom, well ballanced, very accurate. Mine is one of my favorites of all my S&W revolver collection. Having said that , i'd have two concerns with the one your quoting. 1) This one sounds like it's had custom work. Does that indicate excessive /high volume shooting? How is the cylinder play and endshake? cyl gap? forceing cone? Folks don't usually dump custom $ into a gun then shelve it. There are exceptions however.
2) $450 sounds high. The gun MIGHT be worth that if it were and early modle,/low serial #, with box and papers and was unmodified. I'd say $350-$375 would be tops for that gun as stated. ( Paid $195 for my minty 70's vintage 14 two years back.) Those mods do nothing to the value of the gun (despite what the owner may think) but bring it level/down. Also, in my experience, 38 special revolvers have enjoyed lower prices than their 357 counterparts in recient years because most folks want the "magnum' even if they intend to shoot 38's. Furthermore, the model 14's were less common among LEOs than say model 10's ,15's, 13's,19's,65's 66's, 67's. They were designed as target guns vs carry/combat guns. Resultantly, It's easier to find a nice 14 that hasn't seen a million rounds/hours in a holster.
Of course, if you get assured on #1, you can always low ball an offer to resolve #2.
