Yes, I do. Because I know these people, and I know that they do these things because I have watched them do them, repeatedly.

Edit: It may be bullshit in the general case (applying to people who make the claim of "try before I buy"), but it is not bullshit in the case of myself or the people that I actually know who claim that.

I don't think very many people really make excuses like this. Most (if not all) of the people I know pirate quite liberally and they do it without apologizing or feeling the need to rationalize anything.

Even though those who have their interests aligned with the current copyright regime like to loudly declare otherwise, it really seems that intuitively there is no ethical problem with piracy.