diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index 804bc3642b..26fd059492 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -1,4 +1,9 @@
 
+2.3-305 | 2014-11-18 11:09:04 -0800
+
+  * Improve coercion of &default expressions. Addresses BIT-1288. (Jon
+    Siwek)
+
 2.3-303 | 2014-11-18 10:53:04 -0800
 
   * For DH key exchanges, use p as the parameter for weak key
diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
index 249fe33eb6..fd48b52d6d 100644
--- a/VERSION
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-2.3-303
+2.3-305
diff --git a/src/Attr.cc b/src/Attr.cc
index d6d0f6e68d..13106b02b7 100644
--- a/src/Attr.cc
+++ b/src/Attr.cc
@@ -265,6 +265,14 @@ void Attributes::CheckAttr(Attr* a)
 				// Ok.
 				break;
 
+			Expr* e = a->AttrExpr();
+			if ( check_and_promote_expr(e, type) )
+				{
+				a->SetAttrExpr(e);
+				// Ok.
+				break;
+				}
+
 			a->AttrExpr()->Error("&default value has inconsistent type", type);
 			}
 
@@ -297,8 +305,11 @@ void Attributes::CheckAttr(Attr* a)
 
 				Expr* e = a->AttrExpr();
 				if ( check_and_promote_expr(e, ytype) )
+					{
+					a->SetAttrExpr(e);
 					// Ok.
 					break;
+					}
 
 				Error("&default value has inconsistent type 2");
 				}
diff --git a/src/Attr.h b/src/Attr.h
index 7becbb27eb..228bc2e5fc 100644
--- a/src/Attr.h
+++ b/src/Attr.h
@@ -45,6 +45,13 @@ public:
 	attr_tag Tag() const	{ return tag; }
 	Expr* AttrExpr() const	{ return expr; }
 
+	// Up to the caller to decide if previous expr can be unref'd since it may
+	// not always be safe; e.g. expressions (at time of writing) don't always
+	// keep careful track of referencing their operands, so doing something
+	// like SetAttrExpr(coerce(AttrExpr())) must not completely unref the
+	// previous expr as the new expr depends on it.
+	void SetAttrExpr(Expr* e) { expr = e; }
+
 	int RedundantAttrOkay() const
 		{ return tag == ATTR_REDEF || tag == ATTR_OPTIONAL; }
 
diff --git a/testing/btest/Baseline/language.attr-default-coercion/out b/testing/btest/Baseline/language.attr-default-coercion/out
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e6768c77b6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/testing/btest/Baseline/language.attr-default-coercion/out
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+7.0
+[i=1, d=3.0]
+237, 101.0
+-5, 101.0
+-37, -8.1
diff --git a/testing/btest/Baseline/language.named-table-ctors/out b/testing/btest/Baseline/language.named-table-ctors/out
index 273afdd205..5a305f4d4b 100644
--- a/testing/btest/Baseline/language.named-table-ctors/out
+++ b/testing/btest/Baseline/language.named-table-ctors/out
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@
 [one] = 1.0,
 [three] = 3.0
 }
-0
+0.0
 {
 [42] = forty-two,
 [37] = thirty-seven
diff --git a/testing/btest/language/attr-default-coercion.bro b/testing/btest/language/attr-default-coercion.bro
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..14590d0033
--- /dev/null
+++ b/testing/btest/language/attr-default-coercion.bro
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+# @TEST-EXEC: bro -b %INPUT >out
+# @TEST-EXEC: btest-diff out
+
+type my_table: table[string] of double;
+
+type my_record: record {
+	i: int &default = 1;
+	d: double &default = 3;
+};
+
+global t: my_table &default = 7;
+global r = my_record();
+
+function foo(i: int &default = 237, d: double &default = 101)
+	{
+	print i, d;
+	}
+
+event bro_init()
+	{
+	print t["nope"];
+	print r;
+	foo();
+	foo(-5);
+	foo(-37, -8.1);
+	}