It's always a good idea to do a little brushing in the heavy deposited nooks and crannies. CLP will soften those areas up. I keep old toothbrushes around and trim them back a bit so the bristles are shorter. A stiff toothbrush is better. I don't brush my teeth with those, so I buy them special for gun scrubbing. Once the thickly deposited areas and the nooks and crannies are softened up with a good soak in CLP, I brush 'em down and then blast 'em with BrakeKleen. It's cheaper than the made-for-guns products and works as well or better. All the aerosols have the advantage of strong squirting pressure. Just be careful it doesn't come back in your face! The BrakeKleen will drastically degrease/delube too. Personally, I don't use the aerosols very often. I save them for the occasional drastic down-to-the-bone cleaning. Session to session I use CLP and a good wipe down.