diff --git a/src/main/java/net/minecraftforge/common/ForgeVersion.java b/src/main/java/net/minecraftforge/common/ForgeVersion.java
index 2ed033c43..db815e043 100644
--- a/src/main/java/net/minecraftforge/common/ForgeVersion.java
+++ b/src/main/java/net/minecraftforge/common/ForgeVersion.java
@@ -21,8 +21,11 @@ package net.minecraftforge.common;
 
 import static net.minecraftforge.common.ForgeVersion.Status.*;
 
+import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.InputStream;
+import java.net.HttpURLConnection;
 import java.net.URL;
+import java.net.URLConnection;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.HashMap;
@@ -68,6 +71,8 @@ public class ForgeVersion
 
     private static final Logger log = LogManager.getLogger(MOD_ID + ".VersionCheck");
 
+    private static final int MAX_HTTP_REDIRECTS = Integer.getInteger("http.maxRedirects", 20);
+
     public static int getMajorVersion()
     {
         return majorVersion;
@@ -202,6 +207,40 @@ public class ForgeVersion
                 }
             }
 
+            /**
+             * Opens stream for given URL while following redirects
+             */
+            private InputStream openUrlStream(URL url) throws IOException
+            {
+                URL currentUrl = url;
+                for (int redirects = 0; redirects < MAX_HTTP_REDIRECTS; redirects++)
+                {
+                    URLConnection c = currentUrl.openConnection();
+                    if (c instanceof HttpURLConnection)
+                    {
+                        HttpURLConnection huc = (HttpURLConnection) c;
+                        huc.setInstanceFollowRedirects(false);
+                        int responseCode = huc.getResponseCode();
+                        if (responseCode >= 300 && responseCode <= 399)
+                        {
+                            try
+                            {
+                                String loc = huc.getHeaderField("Location");
+                                currentUrl = new URL(currentUrl, loc);
+                                continue;
+                            }
+                            finally
+                            {
+                                huc.disconnect();
+                            }
+                        }
+                    }
+
+                    return c.getInputStream();
+                }
+                throw new IOException("Too many redirects while trying to fetch " + url);
+            }
+
             private void process(ModContainer mod, URL url)
             {
                 try
@@ -210,7 +249,7 @@ public class ForgeVersion
                     Status status = PENDING;
                     ComparableVersion target = null;
 
-                    InputStream con = url.openStream();
+                    InputStream con = openUrlStream(url);
                     String data = new String(ByteStreams.toByteArray(con), "UTF-8");
                     con.close();