Just yesterday at a Small Bore Prone match, I talked to a lady who also shoots Bullseye Pistol (with a 22lr, a 45ACP is way too much for her!). Her boyfriend provides the pistol and the ammunition. I know boyfriend, he is an amazing rifle and pistol shooter, but he is one of those who does not clean their competition guns until they malfunction! And guess what, lady friend's loaner pistol is malfunctioning.
I think it stupid to drive half and hour to two hours to go to a match and have the pistol choke because accumulated crud caused it to malfunction. So even though I will only fire 90 rounds through a 22 lr at a Bullseye Pistol Match, I clean the pistols before putting them up. I clean the bore, paying particular attention to the chamber. Feed and extraction is enhanced when the chamber is clean. Recently I purchased a five gallon air compressor, noisy bastard, but just wonderful for blowing out unburnt powder residue and old oil, from the tiniest nooks and crannies. I make sure all surfaces get saturated with some sort of powder solvent, (incidentally, I purchased a gallon of Liquid Wrench. It also dissolves powder residue) and then wiped off. This is for rust prevention as carbon against a steel surface will cause rust pits. Then I lube everything.
No rust on this M46. Had collector value till I had it drilled and tapped for an Ultra Dot!
Putting away clean guns means I can leave them in the safe for years, literally, and not have to worry about rust. And I can pull them out, rapidly check to see if the lubricant has dried, and if the lube is good, the pistol is ready to shoot.
For your self defense gun, do you care that the pistol goes bang when you need it? I am surprised that actually LEO's are rather dismissive about keeping their firearms clean. A shooting bud of mine, a retired State Trooper, told me he visited the house of one of his troopers and pulled the pump shotgun from that man's cruiser. It was so rusted shut, he could not rack the fore end.