I think you are right in this one, Owen. I have bought several Bostitch guns that were recons, and two of them looked like they have never been fired.
In fact, I was looking for a compressor to replace one that is making its death rattles and stumbled onto a site that had an 18 ga and 15 ga nailer with a nice lug around compressor delivered for less than $200. I was thinking I would spend about $200+ on the compressor alone so I bit on the deal.
These were recons, but you would never know it. The 15 ga didn't even have a scuff on the nose, but it had about 200 brads missing from the box. That was it. The 18 gauge looked as if it had never been used at all, and so did the compressor. (The shipper mashed the plastic cowling, so Bostitch is shipping a new one free).
I suspect that DeWalt does as Bostitch and lets out lots of recons out for bid on places like UBID, etc. I know that the DeWalt rep here said that they had tons of that stuff and were working to get rid of it since they couldn't resell as new. LIberal return policies (remember when you didn't even need a receipt at Home Depot?) and dishonest customers have to make up a large part of this "recon" market that is getting bigger and bigger.
Robert