diff --git a/base/linalg/sparse.jl b/base/linalg/sparse.jl
index 3c13b607b4277..14c4c3081c923 100644
--- a/base/linalg/sparse.jl
+++ b/base/linalg/sparse.jl
@@ -598,9 +598,11 @@ function scale!{Tv,Ti}(C::SparseMatrixCSC{Tv,Ti}, A::SparseMatrixCSC, b::Vector)
     m, n = size(A)
     (n==length(b) && size(A)==size(C)) || throw(DimensionMismatch())
     numnz = nnz(A)
-    C.colptr = convert(Array{Ti}, A.colptr)
-    C.rowval = convert(Array{Ti}, A.rowval)
-    C.nzval = Array(Tv, numnz)
+    if C !== A
+        C.colptr = convert(Array{Ti}, A.colptr)
+        C.rowval = convert(Array{Ti}, A.rowval)
+        C.nzval = Array(Tv, numnz)
+    end
     for col = 1:n, p = A.colptr[col]:(A.colptr[col+1]-1)
         C.nzval[p] = A.nzval[p] * b[col]
     end
@@ -609,11 +611,13 @@ end
 
 function scale!{Tv,Ti}(C::SparseMatrixCSC{Tv,Ti}, b::Vector, A::SparseMatrixCSC)
     m, n = size(A)
-    (n==length(b) && size(A)==size(C)) || throw(DimensionMismatch())
+    (m==length(b) && size(A)==size(C)) || throw(DimensionMismatch())
     numnz = nnz(A)
-    C.colptr = convert(Array{Ti}, A.colptr)
-    C.rowval = convert(Array{Ti}, A.rowval)
-    C.nzval = Array(Tv, numnz)
+    if C !== A
+        C.colptr = convert(Array{Ti}, A.colptr)
+        C.rowval = convert(Array{Ti}, A.rowval)
+        C.nzval = Array(Tv, numnz)
+    end
     for col = 1:n, p = A.colptr[col]:(A.colptr[col+1]-1)
         C.nzval[p] = A.nzval[p] * b[A.rowval[p]]
     end
diff --git a/test/sparse.jl b/test/sparse.jl
index c18fd952b54d2..259742db7c62d 100644
--- a/test/sparse.jl
+++ b/test/sparse.jl
@@ -155,6 +155,16 @@ for i = 1:5
     @test full(kron(a,b)) == kron(full(a), full(b))
 end
 
+# scale and scale!
+sA = sprandn(3, 7, 0.5)
+dA = full(sA)
+b = randn(7)
+@test scale(dA, b) == scale(sA, b)
+@test scale(dA, b) == scale!(copy(sA), b)
+b = randn(3)
+@test scale(b, dA) == scale(b, sA)
+@test scale(b, dA) == scale!(b, copy(sA))
+
 # reductions
 @test sum(se33)[1] == 3.0
 @test sum(se33, 1) == [1.0 1.0 1.0]