Your friend has a Savage 24V, I believe. This designation came in .222/20ga, .30-30/20ga and .357/20ga varieties, to my knowledge. MOST of them were .222/20ga. I've never owned any "V"s, but I do own two 24-JDL's currently.
First answer: IF that gun is drill & tap'd through the top (which I believe it is), then Weaver #74 is the correct mount. Any Weaver style rings will then fit.
Second answer: IF that gun has a 3/8's dovetail groove on top instead, then you have several options, as I recently outlined on another thread in this forum.
If your friend is dead set on a scope, then my suggestion would be to go to BKL Technologies and buy their BKL-260 MB one-piece scope mount ($55). Then top with favorite scope. This mount is unique in how strong it holds...MANY lesser mounts simply will not hold onto that groove under shotgun recoil...hence the quaint message imprinted onto the barrel.
There are others out there that are "ok," but this is the best one I've found to date, and one of my guns wears one (see other thread pot for pics).
IF your friend is still open to the idea of irons, there are aperture style iron options that are WORLDS better than those near-worthless open sights the gun came with. See the other thread for details.
For my money, I'll take my Model 24 with a great peep sight any day over the scope. A light small game gun doesn't need the magnification, the bulk, or the slower acquisition time a scope provides, IMO.
- Nudge