In my opinion, silicone cloths ARE good for after you clean your gun, but for more if it's long term storage. On a carry gun, it makes the surfaces a little slick and that's definitely not something you want in a carry gun. It's like putting armor-all on your steering wheel, bad joojoo.

I wouldn't use it on the gun prior to cleaning as it would pollute your silicone cloth pretty badly.

silicone tends to not attract dust near as bad as oil, either.

I use them to wipe off finger prints and such on clean guns after handling them for show & tell and other reasons. I try not to get the silicone on the grips. That stuff is slick.

CLP manufacturers make a big deal about preserving gun metal for storage. There's even rust tests. I've never seen a rust test with silicone in the high rankings (I don't think they even test it). So I assume CLP is better. However, I do wonder how a gun coated in oil does with leather, and making the leather soften over time. Between dust and lint, perhaps silicone is better?

I've become leary of using silcone products after seeing how difficult it can be to repaint an automobile that has been wiped down with armor-all instead of wax.