diff --git a/index_test.go b/index_test.go
index 5e070366..e9a6ae63 100644
--- a/index_test.go
+++ b/index_test.go
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"io/ioutil"
 	"log"
+	"math"
 	"os"
 	"reflect"
 	"sort"
@@ -1668,3 +1669,67 @@ func TestOpenReadonlyMultiple(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatal(err)
 	}
 }
+
+// TestBug408 tests for VERY large values of size, even though actual result
+// set may be reasonable size
+func TestBug408(t *testing.T) {
+	type TestStruct struct {
+		ID     string  `json:"id"`
+		UserID *string `json:"user_id"`
+	}
+
+	docMapping := NewDocumentMapping()
+	docMapping.AddFieldMappingsAt("id", NewTextFieldMapping())
+	docMapping.AddFieldMappingsAt("user_id", NewTextFieldMapping())
+
+	indexMapping := NewIndexMapping()
+	indexMapping.DefaultMapping = docMapping
+
+	index, err := New("", indexMapping)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+
+	numToTest := 10
+	matchUserID := "match"
+	noMatchUserID := "no_match"
+	matchingDocIds := make(map[string]struct{})
+
+	for i := 0; i < numToTest; i++ {
+		ds := &TestStruct{"id_" + strconv.Itoa(i), nil}
+		if i%2 == 0 {
+			ds.UserID = &noMatchUserID
+		} else {
+			ds.UserID = &matchUserID
+			matchingDocIds[ds.ID] = struct{}{}
+		}
+		err = index.Index(ds.ID, ds)
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+	}
+
+	cnt, err := index.DocCount()
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if int(cnt) != numToTest {
+		t.Fatalf("expected %d documents in index, got %d", numToTest, cnt)
+	}
+
+	q := NewTermQuery(matchUserID).SetField("user_id")
+	searchReq := NewSearchRequestOptions(q, math.MaxInt32, 0, false)
+	results, err := index.Search(searchReq)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if int(results.Total) != numToTest/2 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected %d search hits, got %d", numToTest/2, results.Total)
+	}
+
+	for _, result := range results.Hits {
+		if _, found := matchingDocIds[result.ID]; !found {
+			t.Fatalf("document with ID %s not in results as expected", result.ID)
+		}
+	}
+}
diff --git a/search/collectors/topn.go b/search/collectors/topn.go
index 636b7593..3465c0a6 100644
--- a/search/collectors/topn.go
+++ b/search/collectors/topn.go
@@ -17,6 +17,10 @@ import (
 	"golang.org/x/net/context"
 )
 
+// PreAllocSizeSkipCap will cap preallocation to this amount when
+// size+skip exceeds this value
+const PreAllocSizeSkipCap = 1000
+
 type collectorCompare func(i, j *search.DocumentMatch) int
 
 type collectorFixup func(d *search.DocumentMatch) error
@@ -50,9 +54,16 @@ const CheckDoneEvery = uint64(1024)
 // ordering hits by the provided sort order
 func NewTopNCollector(size int, skip int, sort search.SortOrder) *TopNCollector {
 	hc := &TopNCollector{size: size, skip: skip, sort: sort}
-	// pre-allocate space on the heap, we need size+skip results
-	// +1 additional while figuring out which to evict
-	hc.store = newStoreSlice(size+skip+1, func(i, j *search.DocumentMatch) int {
+
+	// pre-allocate space on the store to avoid reslicing
+	// unless the size + skip is too large, then cap it
+	// everything should still work, just reslices as necessary
+	backingSize := size + skip + 1
+	if size+skip > PreAllocSizeSkipCap {
+		backingSize = PreAllocSizeSkipCap + 1
+	}
+
+	hc.store = newStoreSlice(backingSize, func(i, j *search.DocumentMatch) int {
 		return hc.sort.Compare(hc.cachedScoring, hc.cachedDesc, i, j)
 	})
 
@@ -73,12 +84,15 @@ func (hc *TopNCollector) Collect(ctx context.Context, searcher search.Searcher,
 	var err error
 	var next *search.DocumentMatch
 
-	// search context with enough pre-allocated document matches
-	// we keep references to size+skip ourselves
-	// plus possibly one extra for the highestMatchOutsideResults
-	// plus the amount required by the searcher tree
+	// pre-allocate enough space in the DocumentMatchPool
+	// unless the size + skip is too large, then cap it
+	// everything should still work, just allocates DocumentMatches on demand
+	backingSize := hc.size + hc.skip + 1
+	if hc.size+hc.skip > PreAllocSizeSkipCap {
+		backingSize = PreAllocSizeSkipCap + 1
+	}
 	searchContext := &search.SearchContext{
-		DocumentMatchPool: search.NewDocumentMatchPool(hc.size+hc.skip+1+searcher.DocumentMatchPoolSize(), len(hc.sort)),
+		DocumentMatchPool: search.NewDocumentMatchPool(backingSize+searcher.DocumentMatchPoolSize(), len(hc.sort)),
 	}
 
 	select {