"i take them down and let them soak in hot soapy water a bit. then cover each part with dish detergent and scrub with a tooth brush. rinse with hot water. towel dry and let parts sit out for a while. then i spray the parts down with rusty duck gun oil. put the gun together and work the action as i wipe excess oil.
is this ok with semi auto handguns, ak47, shot guns?"
Oh my.....
Were talking about guns, not dishes here. You can use boiling water to clean black powder guns, but that’s it.
When you discharge a round you leave lead fouling, powder fouling, and primer residue; there may also be copper or plastic depending on the loads your shooting
Hoppe's #9 will take care of the first three, if you shoot copper jacketed stuff; you need a solvent with ammonia in it.
I use a bore snake if I'm in a hurry, otherwise here's my process
-Field strip
-Run a wet patch with solvent down the barrel and let soak
-Using a brush and a soaked patch, wipe down the receiver, chamber and all other metal parts.
-Run bronze brush down the barrel followed by a wet patch and dry patch, until they come out clean
-Using dry patches, wipe down all solvent residues
-Apply a light coat of gun oil (flavor depends on temperature) on all metal parts.
-Wipe off excess oil
-Reassemble and work the action a few times
-If your doing precision work with a rifle, run a dry patch through the barrel before you fire, or you may have a flyer from the oil.
I use shooter's choice solvent and hoppe's gun oil
the spray can stuff works too, I prefer the stuff made by "Tetra", CLP's okay too
If you want to make your own solvents look here -
http://www.frfrogspad.com/homemade.htm
Good Luck