My personal policy is to shoot the gun with the ammo, dust, lint, etc. as carried since the last time it was loaded, without doing any type of special maintenance, manipulation or cleaning before firing. It gives me a more valid test of what the gun can tolerate in terms of daily wear and tear, increases my knowledge base of the gun, and increases my confidence in its reliability.
There's nothing "special" about keeping a gun cleaned and lubricated well enough to insure it will function.
if you're going to bet your life on a mechanical device, it's foolish to not take good care of it
