I don't think it is actually a matter of bone in vs bone out but more of what you are getting at that a bone out but gets you more seasoning and flavor inside the meat. So what do I mean?
I buy bone in pork butts because they are the cheapest, like $0.97/lb at least twice a month between 3 different grocery stores near me.
So I take a bone in butt and split it from the bottom meat side, upwards towards the top fat side but the bone stops me from cutting it into 2 pieces!
I then season all around and within that cut and when I place it in the smoker I place the pork butt where the meat is spread out at the split. It's not spatchcocked or anything but has separation for sure.
The results? More seasoning in that split. More smoke penetration in the split and into more of the meat due to the split. More bark since there is more exposed surface area due to the split.
Overall, WAY more flavor all around and into the meat.
This one change has made it to where my great pork butts are now OUTSTANDING every time. Also no need to add any seasoning or finishing sauce after shredding. There is no bland meat just full flavor and flavor penetration due to the split.
So bone in or bone out I don't think is the key, I think having a split spread out bit of pork butt gives you the better results you may be seeing from the bone out pork butt :)
Here's my post that goes into detail, I hope it helps and I hope you try it to take your pulled pork to the next level! :)
Well a few weekends ago I did 2 pork butts at 17.5 pounds total. I butterflied them so that the pork butts were more like butts hahaha. The reason I did this was to: get more seasoning on the meat for flavor get more bark because there was now more surface area get more smoke flavor and...
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