Would a magazine lock on a Nodak built Romanian G allow the removal of one evil feature to allow the bayonet lug to remain on the rifle or am I better off just cutting the lug off the barrel and calling it a day?

Unlike CA NJ doesn't seem to have any kind of legal definition for "removable". Before the tweak in the CA Law that specified "removable without a tool", some people would simply weld the mag in place and field strip it in order to load the magazine which is a huge PITA but if you're going for looks only it works. It seemed to be easier to do with an AR.

 

Personally I'd love to build a nice BFPU syle AK but I'm not sure how to do that and be able to keep the lug.

 

I'd say cut the lug. I beleive you only need to cut the square tab off the lug (as it also holds the cleaning rod) but someone will chime in to correct me if I'm wrong.

to me that is a ridiculous amount of work to retain a bayonet lug.. a removable mag seems WAY more useful..

Yeah, that would be all I would take off. They can take my bayonet lug, but they can't have my cleaning rod, haha.