I clean a lot of 1911 pistols. I've tried everything from ultra sonic cleaners to letting the guns get so dirty they crust up and the crud flakes off. Actually, that one didn't work well at all! A few years ago, I decided that the easiest and best way to clean pistols was the way I started back in the '70's. Starting in a well-ventilated place, I use a .50 caliber ammo can with the solvent of your liking (I use plain old odor-less mineral spirits from the big box home fix-it store) some nitrile rubber gloves to protect your skin and brushes that fit the passage that you're cleaning.
A common M-16 brush, or even an old toothbrush does a good job with flat surfaces and will get into some grooves. My CAL-F1 channel cleaning tool and a patch is needed for many of the grooves and slots, like those on each side of the disconnector rail on the underside of the slide, but a round brush is what you need for the extractor tunnel, MSH bore, slide bore, barrel and chamber, plunger tube, etc.
I've gone through a bunch of make-do solutions for cleaning these tunnels & bores and finally hit on the right combination for all of the holes in a 1911. The brush sets come in a 6 brush set with nylon bristles and a twisted steel shaft with a loop handle. They come packed in a clear plastic storage tube.
I use them as follows from largest to smallest:
Slide barrel bore and locking lugs
Slide spring tunnel, barrel bore
MSH spring bore
Firing pin tunnel and extractor tunnel
Magazine catch spring bore and grip screw bushing bore
Plunger tube bore
