What ever works for you is what I say. If the steam cleaner works for you, then that would be a way to do it.

Personally on my inline rifles, even those with scopes, I make up a batch of as hot as I can stand water with Dawn Dish Washing Liquid in it. I break the gun down of course, no stock, breech plug and hammer striker removed, etc. Then I pour hot soap water down the barrel. After that I just lay that barrel across the sink and squirt a dab of Dawn into the open breech and use a breech brush, working all of that into a bubble festival. After all the parts and scope are cleaned with a old tooth brush and a nylon brush, I dump more hot dishwater down the barrel as a rinse. The breech threads are as clean now as when the rifle was new. All the parts are nice and clean, and it really cost me next to nothing.

I then take all those parts onto the cleaning table, and run a few solvent patches through them, a few drypatches, and then oil the whole thing up again. It takes me very little time now to really clean the rifle perfect.

That's another reason I like the Warne Maxima QD rings. I can take the scope off. And then I can scrub the bottom of the scope the rings, and the rest of the rifle with ease. Those rings were suggested to me by Underclocked and it was the first thing he was ever right about.. Just kidding there Underclocked. But the rings have really made cleaning the rifle a lot easier.