It looks like an East German knockoff.
Mellrichstadt was a town in what was East Germany from 1944-1989.
Probably why the place of manufacture on the rifle was scratched away.
I was stationed in West Berlin from 1974-1979.
Berlin for the un-informed was not on the border between East and West Germany.
Berlin was located 125 miles inside of East Germany.
West Berlin was occupied by the USA, France and Great Britain.
The Soviets had the east but they enjyed shopping in our BX.
The American embassy was located in East Berlin.
This cartouche (from one of the OP's pics) is on most all Weihrauch airguns. Mellrichstadt is the town where the factory is, and "Bay" stands for "Bayern," the German word for the state of Bavaria (similar to the US, Germany is divided into states).
Before the war, Weihrauch was in Zella-Mehlis, Thuringia - which ended up in EAST Germany. After the war they moved to Mellrichstadt, Bavaria - in WEST Germany - re-opening there in 1948. Although the two towns are quite close together, they on opposite sides of the state/iron curtain border.
East Germany's biggest airgun maker was Haenel, located in the traditional gun-making city of Suhl, Thuringia. They manufactured many interesting airguns both before and after the war, but none of them were direct copies of contemporary Weihrauch products. The pre-war Haenel models 1 and 3, and post-war model 303, are barrel-cockers with a manual breech lock, but it works differently from the HW 35's.
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