diff --git a/tornado/simple_httpclient.py b/tornado/simple_httpclient.py
index 1f90bef9..5e4d1455 100644
--- a/tornado/simple_httpclient.py
+++ b/tornado/simple_httpclient.py
@@ -380,12 +380,23 @@ class _HTTPConnection(object):
                                    self.request)
         if (self.request.follow_redirects and
             self.request.max_redirects > 0 and
-            self.code in (301, 302)):
+            self.code in (301, 302, 303)):
             new_request = copy.copy(self.request)
             new_request.url = urlparse.urljoin(self.request.url,
                                                self.headers["Location"])
             new_request.max_redirects -= 1
             del new_request.headers["Host"]
+            # http://www.w3.org/Protocols/rfc2616/rfc2616-sec10.html#sec10.3.4
+            # client SHOULD make a GET request
+            if self.code == 303:
+                new_request.method = "GET"
+                new_request.body = None
+                for h in ["Content-Length", "Content-Type", 
+                    "Content-Encoding", "Transfer-Encoding"]:
+                    try:
+                        del self.request.headers[h]
+                    except KeyError:
+                        pass
             new_request.original_request = original_request
             final_callback = self.final_callback
             self.final_callback = None
diff --git a/tornado/test/simple_httpclient_test.py b/tornado/test/simple_httpclient_test.py
index a65c8c68..f0f9be0f 100644
--- a/tornado/test/simple_httpclient_test.py
+++ b/tornado/test/simple_httpclient_test.py
@@ -54,6 +54,16 @@ class NoContentHandler(RequestHandler):
             self.set_header("Content-Length", "7")
         self.set_status(204)
 
+class SeeOther303PostHandler(RequestHandler):
+    def post(self):
+        self.set_header("Location", "/303_get")
+        self.set_status(303)
+
+class SeeOther303GetHandler(RequestHandler):    
+    def get(self):
+        self.write("ok")
+        
+        
 class SimpleHTTPClientTestCase(AsyncHTTPTestCase, LogTrapTestCase):
     def setUp(self):
         super(SimpleHTTPClientTestCase, self).setUp()
@@ -72,6 +82,8 @@ class SimpleHTTPClientTestCase(AsyncHTTPTestCase, LogTrapTestCase):
             url("/content_length", ContentLengthHandler),
             url("/head", HeadHandler),
             url("/no_content", NoContentHandler),
+            url("/303_post", SeeOther303PostHandler),
+            url("/303_get", SeeOther303GetHandler),
             ], gzip=True)
 
     def test_singleton(self):
@@ -150,6 +162,14 @@ class SimpleHTTPClientTestCase(AsyncHTTPTestCase, LogTrapTestCase):
         self.assertTrue(response.effective_url.endswith("/countdown/2"))
         self.assertTrue(response.headers["Location"].endswith("/countdown/1"))
 
+    def test_303_redirect(self):
+       response = self.fetch("/303_post", method="POST", body="")
+       self.assertEqual(200, response.code)
+       self.assertTrue(response.request.url.endswith("/303_post"))
+       self.assertTrue(response.effective_url.endswith("/303_get"))
+       #request is the original request, is a POST still
+       self.assertEqual("POST", response.request.method)
+        
     def test_request_timeout(self):
         response = self.fetch('/hang', request_timeout=0.1)
         self.assertEqual(response.code, 599)