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Several reasons that I can think of, in order of increasing importance:

3) Increased rigidity.
2) Cosmetic appearance of straight side rail.
1) That is where the cut is made to shorten the receiver.

Next time you see the smith that does this ask him what that slot is for

An Adolph "K" in 6.5X54K

Loading with stripper clips-hard to do w/a scope on.

Good shooting.

A lot of folks think that the "Slot" or notch has something to do with loading the rifle but in fact it's one of the safety features of the 98 Mauser.

The stipper clip guide is on the top of the receiver. Someone (maybe Michael) had a copy of the patent at one time that illustrated the real purpose. Maybe they could post that again. I had to learn the "hard way" too.

It is for the gas escape route through the left-hand bolt lug guide.

Craig

I'll be careful on how I word this so we don't start up the "C" Ring-of-death wars.

The design of the 98 Mauser in handling escaping gas from a ruptured case or primer is that any gas entering into the bolt body leaves through the ports in the left side of the bolt. I have seen it written many times that these ports are on the bottom of the bolt and it may look that way when the bolt is out of the rifle. Anyway the gas leaves through the ports on the left side, travels a short distance then escapes through the cut in the left side of the receiver.

The cut in the receiver wall was not designed to help in loading the rifle.

If the cut is plugged then the gas would travel to the rear into the shooters face.

I don't have a straight wall Mauser to check the bolt but suspect that they would have the ports on the bottom of the bolt for the gas to enter the magazine box.

A Mauser action with a so called thumb cut and clip slot does not mean that it was a military action. The majority of the actions including commercial ones all had these features.

I did not know that!

It's why I'm here... thank you Michael.

I think the thumb cut has dual uses. Try and load a clip of cartridges into a commercial Mauser without the thumb cut. I have one that has no thumb cut but the clip slot is there, albeit without the raised lips around the clip slot. It doesn't work very well.

Prewar M70s have the clip slots, so do postwar pre64 target rifles. My first M70 was a prewar with a Pachmayr swing sidemount, I carried spare ammo in two loaded clips but never had to stand off a charge of whitetails. Still have a slotted postwar target receiver in the parts box.