From the mid-50's to mid-60's I owned a Cadet Major, Webley mk3 and Airsporter mk1, in that order and my mate next door had a Meteor mk1. All these satisfied the criteria in the original post for vermin control, informal target shooting and back garden plinking.

Back then in rural Essex we had never seen, let alone shot, any 'foreign' airguns including the HW35 but I am sure if I had been aware of its positive attributes - Rekord trigger etc - I may well have been tempted to buy one.