Re: Smith & Wesson information.........
To my recollection, none of the changes for that model were really huge and did not affect quality or performance radically. All of the Model 14's were excellent. I believe that the -3 variant had about a 10 year run, so I guess S&W figured they did something pretty good. I think they kept the pinned barrel ontil near the end of the -4's. I don't think you can go wrong with any of them!
George P.