I'd rather not have my engine fail on me and have a catastrophic failure when I'm on the interstate going 80mph. Yes, race car drivers have their engine worked on a lot, race engines get a lot more abuse than standard engines, and even with them constantly maintaining them, it's almost a guarantee that 1 driver will blow their engine during a race. Competitive shooters clean their guns a little more regularly because they shoot them more, but still, a lot of shooters go 1K, 2K, 5K rounds before cleaning. Some guns of mine, just with life and powder availability, it takes a little while for me to reach 5k rounds.
I was raised that you should clean your guns every time you shoot them and so were most people here. "The smell of Hoppes [puke] and cleanin' guns is my history" and people still act like if they keep their firearm spotless they'll get a cookie. I realized long ago that firearms are pieces of machinery and originally designed to take abuse and pretty much survive wars. Plus, I like, need, to know what they will take before I can't rely on them anymore.
It took 15k rounds before my Buckmark wouldn't work anymore, it had so much powder residue in it it was hilarious. I've shot my Kimber full of WWII corrosive ball ammo and my reloads and only cleaning it after all the corrosive stuff was shot, was only 1000 rounds, but it took me a little while and I let that crud sit in it for 5 months or so (can't shoot when you work 7 days a week). I didn't wear it out and it had no rust or corrosion or ill affects. None of my ARs have been cleaned since I started getting into them 2 or 3 years ago. List goes on.
Let's say someone spends 3K in "the most durable, dependable firearm EVAR!!!" and someone invests in a Jennings they got for $50 that does the same thing (let's assume it's a handgun because of the POS Jennings). If you're going to clean your 3K epitome of firearm design after every shot through it and wipe it with a diaper, then why don't they just get the Jennings, baby that, and pocket the $2950 they saved?
Also cleaning chemicals can be harsh. Sweets 762 is nasty shat, Hoppes used to be strong enough to remove bluing and you still don't want to put Hoppes on nickel because it'll eat it. So certain cleaning chemicals, combined with metal brushes and scrubbing, how is that any safer on a firearm that just leaving my crud in there?
I have a gunsmith friend who runs his guns dirty and cleans them when they hit a round count or they start acting up, he also shoots competitively. We both clean our revolvers after every shooting because of the face of the cylinder and because leaded barrels are a PITA unless you have mercury. But semi autos were designed to shoot...and shoot....and shoot.
I started leaving my guns dirty because there's so many people out there who praise their AK (ehh) because of it's durability and no one complains that they don't clean their AK (probably because it's an AK). I personally, just want to see how dependable my guns are. If something ever happens to where something gets fubar, it's going to happen many many tens of thousands of rounds down the road and what's why gun manufactures have warranties. Plus I bet their warranty department would love to see a gun shot out because it doesn't happen a lot compared to the amount of squib loads blowing up a gun, over powdered loads blowing up, other barrel obstructions, or someone who broke something or stripped a screw by overzealous cleaning
