I think Winchester would be the only source of records so complete as to include the caliber a specific rifle was made for. They turned over all their old records to the Buffalo Bill Historical Center, but apparently only up through the 1907. Who knows if they kept the later stuff.
However, I would bet a small sum that your .222 started out life as a .22 Hornet. In 'Bolt Action Rifles' Frank deHaas describes the conversion of M-54s from Hornet to Lovell to .222 and Col Townsend Whelen discusses and illustrates his M-70 that went that exact route in 'Mister Rifleman.'
A Winchester Hornet would be the only way to get a bolt face small enough to handle R2 or .222. They have a peculiar tapered nose on the bolt, and a separate internal magazine inside the regular .06 magazine well. Would Winchester have sold Johnson those parts to convert a rifle of another caliber? I don't know, but I doubt it.
