I found this website to be interesting regarding cleaning and maintenance.

Link:  http://www.frfrogspad.com/homemade.htm

Haha this is awesome! Homemade rifle cleaner. Going to homedepot today!

More than one idiot has damaged plastic on guns with acetone.

I have been using Ed's Red for over 10 years and love it.  The only thing I do different is usually splash some Mobil1 into the mix.   It is fairly aggressive so keep it away from plastic/polymer/wood/Bulgarian AKs.  

My AR cleaning process involves dunking the BGG (without the extractor o-ring) into it and dipping my jags, rags, and patches into the solution to clean everything else.   Once everything else is cleaned, take out the BCG parts that are now well soaked.   If you are using something small like a mason jar, tie a magnet to a string to fish stuff out.   After a few cleaning sessions, filter the Ed's Red through coffee filters to clean it back up.   I use it on my SKSs and (non-Bulgarian) AKs to clean up after shooting corrosive.  Nothing of mine has ever rusted using it to clean up after corrosive ammo.