diff --git a/base/sparse/sparsematrix.jl b/base/sparse/sparsematrix.jl
index e1126c3d916e58..8042b53030f983 100644
--- a/base/sparse/sparsematrix.jl
+++ b/base/sparse/sparsematrix.jl
@@ -1453,26 +1453,16 @@ round{To}(::Type{To}, A::SparseMatrixCSC) = _broadcast_unary_nz2z_z2z_T(round, A
 Takes unary function `f` that maps zeros to zeros and nonzeros to nonzeros, and returns a
 new `SparseMatrixCSC{TiA,TvB}` `B` generated by applying `f` to each nonzero entry in `A`.
 """
-function _broadcast_unary_nz2nz_z2z_T{TvA,TiA,TvB}(f::Function, A::SparseMatrixCSC{TvA,TiA}, ::Type{TvB})
+function _broadcast_unary_nz2nz_z2z{TvA,TiA,FT<:Function}(f::FT, A::SparseMatrixCSC{TvA,TiA})
     Bcolptr = Vector{TiA}(A.n + 1)
     Browval = Vector{TiA}(nnz(A))
-    Bnzval = Vector{TvB}(nnz(A))
     copy!(Bcolptr, 1, A.colptr, 1, A.n + 1)
     copy!(Browval, 1, A.rowval, 1, nnz(A))
-    @inbounds @simd for k in 1:nnz(A)
-        Bnzval[k] = f(A.nzval[k])
-    end
+    Bnzval = broadcast(f, view(A.nzval, 1:nnz(A)))
     return SparseMatrixCSC(A.m, A.n, Bcolptr, Browval, Bnzval)
 end
-function _broadcast_unary_nz2nz_z2z{Tv}(f::Function, A::SparseMatrixCSC{Tv})
-    _broadcast_unary_nz2nz_z2z_T(f, A, Tv)
-end
 @_enumerate_childmethods(_broadcast_unary_nz2nz_z2z,
     log1p, expm1, abs, abs2, conj)
-broadcast{TTv}(::typeof(abs2), A::SparseMatrixCSC{Complex{TTv}}) = _broadcast_unary_nz2nz_z2z_T(abs2, A, TTv)
-broadcast{TTv}(::typeof(abs), A::SparseMatrixCSC{Complex{TTv}}) = _broadcast_unary_nz2nz_z2z_T(abs, A, TTv)
-broadcast{TTv<:Integer}(::typeof(abs), A::SparseMatrixCSC{Complex{TTv}}) = _broadcast_unary_nz2nz_z2z_T(abs, A, Float64)
-broadcast{TTv<:BigInt}(::typeof(abs), A::SparseMatrixCSC{Complex{TTv}}) = _broadcast_unary_nz2nz_z2z_T(abs, A, BigFloat)
 function conj!(A::SparseMatrixCSC)
     @inbounds @simd for k in 1:nnz(A)
         A.nzval[k] = conj(A.nzval[k])