Yeah, that's a tough consideration. I'm a big believer in aperture peep sights. One of these guns wears a Redfield RE-24 sight, which was made in the mid-1960's, and is essentially the same as one of their receiver mounted sights, but doesn't require drill & tap. It just hangs onto the 3/8's groove. Came with a front sight riser and replacement screw right in the box. These are damn hard to find these days. I have another one, and recently saw somebody bid one up to $200 on Gunbroker.
With this sight I will put a .22lr in a rabbit's head out to 50 yards, offhanded. That's about all I need, because I wouldn't have an ethical shot (given my ability) beyond that, and I limit the 20 ga to about 20-25 yards for pheasant/turkey.
BUT...I also found a newfangled solution. B-Square makes a low profile dovetail-to-Weaver base. The 24's grooves are NOT the same as many other .22's...but I bought it and tested it and it DOES fit. New England Custom Gunworks (NECG) makes a Weaver-style mounted aperture peep sight which will then fit right onto that mount. And bada bing, yer done (although there's a decent chance you need to raise the front sight to line it all up). I'm not entirely sure, but Skinner may also make a Weaver-mounted peep sight. Worth looking into...
The other gun wears a BKL rimfire/airgun mount that has a terrifically tight hold...topped by a Barska fixed 2.5x scope that is clear as heck. $55 for the mount and $43 for the scope...pretty nifty little setup. I've fired a slew of 3-in shells with this setup in place, and the mount has never budged, and the scope has never lost it's original zero.
All the same, give me a peep sight on these guns ALL DAY LONG. I only keep one scoped because my wife likes to shoot it that way.
Outside of the original Redfield RE-24 there are 3 (and exactly 3) other sights that were made for the older Savage 24's. Williams WGRS-24, Williams 5D, and Lyman 53D. Of those I think the Lyman is the best. The only likeable factor about the WGRS-24 is it's groove-mounted like the RE-24. But it doesn't offer anywhere near the range and windage flexibility...so don't bother chasing one.
Sounds like you've got a 24V (guessing based on your caliber), which means yours is top drill & tap'd from the factory, right? Think that was the case. So you might have even more options.
Thing about these guns is, while they are out there, it isn't always easy to find the correct part for YOUR Model 24 variation. My two are mechanically identical, so I have 3-15 of every single spring/pin/screw/plunger in them. I've had some 'interesting' adventures doing my own smithing on them...
- Nudge