diff --git a/solr/src/test/org/apache/solr/update/processor/SignatureUpdateProcessorFactoryTest.java b/solr/src/test/org/apache/solr/update/processor/SignatureUpdateProcessorFactoryTest.java
index 597521e7e8b..9d88e716dab 100755
--- a/solr/src/test/org/apache/solr/update/processor/SignatureUpdateProcessorFactoryTest.java
+++ b/solr/src/test/org/apache/solr/update/processor/SignatureUpdateProcessorFactoryTest.java
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ import org.apache.solr.common.util.ContentStream;
 import org.apache.solr.common.util.ContentStreamBase;
 import org.apache.solr.core.SolrCore;
 import org.apache.solr.handler.XmlUpdateRequestHandler;
+import org.apache.solr.request.SolrQueryRequest;
 import org.apache.solr.request.SolrQueryRequestBase;
 import org.apache.solr.response.SolrQueryResponse;
 import org.junit.Before;
@@ -60,6 +61,15 @@ public class SignatureUpdateProcessorFactoryTest extends SolrTestCaseJ4 {
     processor = "dedupe"; // set the default that most tests expect
   }
 
+  void checkNumDocs(int n) {
+    SolrQueryRequest req = req();
+    try {
+      assertEquals(n, req.getSearcher().getReader().numDocs());
+    } finally {
+      req.close();
+    }
+  }
+
   @Test
   public void testDupeDetection() throws Exception {
     SolrCore core = h.getCore();
@@ -79,14 +89,14 @@ public class SignatureUpdateProcessorFactoryTest extends SolrTestCaseJ4 {
 
     addDoc(commit());
 
-    assertEquals(1l, core.getSearcher().get().getReader().numDocs());
+    checkNumDocs(1);
 
     addDoc(adoc("id", "3b", "v_t", "Hello Dude man!", "t_field",
         "fake value galore"));
 
     addDoc(commit());
 
-    assertEquals(2l, core.getSearcher().get().getReader().numDocs());
+    checkNumDocs(2);
 
     assertU(adoc("id", "5a", "name", "ali babi", "v_t", "MMMMM"));
 
@@ -96,14 +106,14 @@ public class SignatureUpdateProcessorFactoryTest extends SolrTestCaseJ4 {
 
     addDoc(commit());
 
-    assertEquals(3l, core.getSearcher().get().getReader().numDocs());
+    checkNumDocs(3);
 
     addDoc(adoc("id", "same", "name", "baryy white", "v_t", "random1"));
     addDoc(adoc("id", "same", "name", "bishop black", "v_t", "random2"));
 
     addDoc(commit());
 
-    assertEquals(4l, core.getSearcher().get().getReader().numDocs());
+    checkNumDocs(4);
     factory.setEnabled(false);
   }
 
@@ -180,7 +190,7 @@ public class SignatureUpdateProcessorFactoryTest extends SolrTestCaseJ4 {
 
     assertU(commit());
 
-    assertEquals(1l, core.getSearcher().get().getReader().numDocs());
+    checkNumDocs(1);
     factory.setEnabled(false);
   }
 
@@ -191,16 +201,14 @@ public class SignatureUpdateProcessorFactoryTest extends SolrTestCaseJ4 {
   public void testNonIndexedSignatureField() throws Exception {
     SolrCore core = h.getCore();
 
-    assertEquals("docs found when none are expected at start",
-                 0l, core.getSearcher().get().getReader().numDocs());
+    checkNumDocs(0);    
 
     processor = "stored_sig";
     addDoc(adoc("id", "2a", "v_t", "Hello Dude man!", "name", "ali babi'"));
     addDoc(adoc("id", "2b", "v_t", "Hello Dude man!", "name", "ali babi'"));
     addDoc(commit());
 
-    assertEquals("did not find exepcted docs",
-                 2l, core.getSearcher().get().getReader().numDocs());
+    checkNumDocs(2);
   }
 
   @Test