A buddy of mine has offered to handload some rounds for me for my 25-06. I was told to get some magnum primers because I want a slow burning powder for maximum performance...Is this right? I decided on 120 gr nosler partitions because I have great performance with 115 gr partitions in the past. They only had a couple powder choices and I got Hodgdon H870, even though I was looking for IMR 4831. Any and all advice I can get will be appreciated, obviously I am a rookie at this and have always shot factory loads.

Not knowing what the recipe is for the round your friend is going to be loading it would be hard to answer your question . Changing the primer can make a big difference in loads as to burn rate and pressure . start slow

I never used mag primers for my 25-06 and the " best" powder I found for all of the bullets I use is IMR 4350...

You don' t have to use magnum primers. Large rifle primers are fine.

I use Federal match magnum primers because I use them for all my calibers, I like to keep it simple.
I also use H4831sc powder in all my calibers 25-06 to 300 win mag, again to keep it simple and because it gives me the best accuracy and consistent performance.

So you can use either magnum or large rifle primers, either will work fine with the slow powders you are talking about.

I no some people that use magnum primers on standard calibers and their rationale is they are using slow burning powder or ball powder in a big standard case and they will be shooting at close to freezing temperature and want to make sure the powder is lit right. I don' t agree with this but they certainly haven' t been bothered by it, my only concern would be what happens when you fire the gun and the temperatures are in the 70' s and 80' s...

I decided to keep the mag primers. I did take the H870 powder back and was able to find some IMR4831. I also picked up my second choice for bullets and that was 117gr hornady sst' s. I hope we can get the partitions to shoot well, but if not I feel like the SST will shoot great.

in cases like the .25-06 and traditional stick (extruded) powders the standard primer is all you need.

If you decide to use ball powders in (even) the case size of a .257 roberts, I' d be using a magnum primer.

It' s a fine line.....

I use Magnum primers with all slow burning powders. Fron H414 and slower I ues Magnum primers and faster than 414 I use standard Primers. I usuall use Federal primers with CCI a close second.

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If you were to use the h870 you would want to use the mag primer for sure. With an extruded powder in that size case you really don' t need it.