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In the old days, heat treating was done by eye. It all boiled down to the experience and judgment of the craftsman to determine the "right" color to heat the steel to, for the desired result. This was not something done by apprentices, but even a master craftsman's judgment can be affected by a number of factors.
There is a story, (possibly true) that Springfield turned out a batch of bad heat treated receivers after someone cleaned decades of grime from the shop windows.
Swedish Mausers were considered the best around the turn of the century (1900) because Swedish steel was considered the best, because their ore was the best...certainly Swedish steel was better than some others, but in those early days it wasn't often clear why it was better.
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All else being equal (and it almost never is) bigger bullets tend to work better.
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