.177 sporting air rifles were always hard to come by up here in Scotland, although there were always some sourced mail order from dealers south of the border when the magazines started extolling the virtues of the smaller calibre.
I can remember visiting a relatively well stocked Glasgow dealer many years ago in the hope that he had some decent .177 rifles in stock. I was informed that there were no .177 rifles in the entire shop as no one bought them.
Only a few years ago, I bought a 1977 HW35E in the smaller calibre locally that an older chap had bought new. Pre Airgun World. I realised that he knew his onions and that I was quite lucky.