I prefer salt and feel like it does a better job, because, as stated above, it is far more aggressive a leaching method. (Think high school chemistry and what you learned about constraitons equalizing each other.)
As for the shank -- yeah, that is often the place where the most attention is needed. I typically wrap a shank brush with a small gun patch, soak it in whatever I'm using (GA or vodka typically), insert the wrapped brush and let it sit in the shank for a good hour. Then remove the patch, vigorously scrub with a brush, moving to bristle cleaners, finishing with soft cleaners until they come out white.
As for the shank -- yeah, that is often the place where the most attention is needed. I typically wrap a shank brush with a small gun patch, soak it in whatever I'm using (GA or vodka typically), insert the wrapped brush and let it sit in the shank for a good hour. Then remove the patch, vigorously scrub with a brush, moving to bristle cleaners, finishing with soft cleaners until they come out white.