GUN TALK: Irvine has one of the...

GUN TALK: Irvine has one of the lowest big-city crime rates in the nation, yet it’s also home to the country’s leading domestic maker of low-cost “Saturday night special” handguns, according to a gun control group in Washington. . . . The Violence Policy Center reports that Bryco Arms off MacArthur Boulevard, which produced 202,510 pistols in 1991, has surpassed traditional industry leaders Sturm Ruger & Co. and Smith & Wesson. Bryco company officials dispute the study, calling it “off base.”

MUSIC MECCA: Historic Mission San Juan Capistrano is rapidly becoming a mecca for producers who seek its Spanish architecture as a backdrop. Cameras rolled at the 217-year-old mission Tuesday for a music video of Filipino singer Gary Valenciano. . . . But the mission recently rejected requests from Bon Jovi, Linda Ronstadt and the soap opera “The Bold and the Beautiful.” Why? Their productions would have disrupted operations and, says mission spokesman Brian McInerney, tourists come first.

LAST CHANCE: Southern California baseball fans may get their last chance to see Nolan Ryan pitch when the Texas Rangers visit Anaheim Stadium this weekend. Ryan, who pitched for the Angels from 1972 to 1979, is the scheduled starter Friday in the first of Angels-Rangers’ three-game series. Injuries have limited baseball’s all-time strikeout leader to 11 starts so far this season, marring what he has said is his final season.

STANDING OUT: Two former Orange County prep stars ended up as the Pac-10 Conference’s top offensive and defensive players of the week. . . . Steve Stenstrom, the former El Toro quarterback, completed 30 of 39 passes for 330 yards and four touchdowns in Stanford’s 31-28 victory against San Jose State. . . . Former Corona del Mar linebacker Jerrott Willard, now a junior at UC Berkeley, led Cal’s defense in a 45-20 win against San Diego State with nine tackles in the game, seven unassisted.