diff --git a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/gateway/IndexShardGateway.java b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/gateway/IndexShardGateway.java
index 6430e7daa58..215f077c564 100644
--- a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/gateway/IndexShardGateway.java
+++ b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/gateway/IndexShardGateway.java
@@ -70,16 +70,14 @@ public interface IndexShardGateway extends IndexShardComponent, CloseableIndexCo
 
         private final long lastIndexVersion;
         private final long lastTranslogId;
-        private final long lastTranslogPosition;
         private final long lastTranslogLength;
         private final int lastTotalTranslogOperations;
 
-        public Snapshot(SnapshotIndexCommit indexCommit, Translog.Snapshot translogSnapshot, long lastIndexVersion, long lastTranslogId, long lastTranslogPosition, long lastTranslogLength, int lastTotalTranslogOperations) {
+        public Snapshot(SnapshotIndexCommit indexCommit, Translog.Snapshot translogSnapshot, long lastIndexVersion, long lastTranslogId, long lastTranslogLength, int lastTotalTranslogOperations) {
             this.indexCommit = indexCommit;
             this.translogSnapshot = translogSnapshot;
             this.lastIndexVersion = lastIndexVersion;
             this.lastTranslogId = lastTranslogId;
-            this.lastTranslogPosition = lastTranslogPosition;
             this.lastTranslogLength = lastTranslogLength;
             this.lastTotalTranslogOperations = lastTotalTranslogOperations;
         }
@@ -127,10 +125,6 @@ public interface IndexShardGateway extends IndexShardComponent, CloseableIndexCo
             return lastTranslogId;
         }
 
-        public long lastTranslogPosition() {
-            return lastTranslogPosition;
-        }
-
         public long lastTranslogLength() {
             return lastTranslogLength;
         }
diff --git a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/gateway/IndexShardGatewayService.java b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/gateway/IndexShardGatewayService.java
index 1079c213902..1d60d5566e7 100644
--- a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/gateway/IndexShardGatewayService.java
+++ b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/gateway/IndexShardGatewayService.java
@@ -60,8 +60,6 @@ public class IndexShardGatewayService extends AbstractIndexShardComponent implem
 
     private volatile long lastTranslogId = -1;
 
-    private volatile long lastTranslogPosition;
-
     private volatile int lastTotalTranslogOperations;
 
     private volatile long lastTranslogLength;
@@ -150,7 +148,6 @@ public class IndexShardGatewayService extends AbstractIndexShardComponent implem
 
                     lastIndexVersion = recoveryStatus.index().version();
                     lastTranslogId = -1;
-                    lastTranslogPosition = 0;
                     lastTranslogLength = 0;
                     lastTotalTranslogOperations = recoveryStatus.translog().currentTranslogOperations();
 
@@ -230,11 +227,10 @@ public class IndexShardGatewayService extends AbstractIndexShardComponent implem
 
                         logger.debug("snapshot ({}) to {} ...", reason, shardGateway);
                         SnapshotStatus snapshotStatus =
-                                shardGateway.snapshot(new IndexShardGateway.Snapshot(snapshotIndexCommit, translogSnapshot, lastIndexVersion, lastTranslogId, lastTranslogPosition, lastTranslogLength, lastTotalTranslogOperations));
+                                shardGateway.snapshot(new IndexShardGateway.Snapshot(snapshotIndexCommit, translogSnapshot, lastIndexVersion, lastTranslogId, lastTranslogLength, lastTotalTranslogOperations));
 
                         lastIndexVersion = snapshotIndexCommit.getVersion();
                         lastTranslogId = translogSnapshot.translogId();
-                        lastTranslogPosition = translogSnapshot.position();
                         lastTranslogLength = translogSnapshot.length();
                         lastTotalTranslogOperations = translogSnapshot.totalOperations();
                         return snapshotStatus;
@@ -247,7 +243,7 @@ public class IndexShardGatewayService extends AbstractIndexShardComponent implem
                     StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
                     sb.append("snapshot (").append(reason).append(") completed to ").append(shardGateway).append(", took [").append(TimeValue.timeValueMillis(snapshotStatus.time())).append("]\n");
                     sb.append("    index    : version [").append(lastIndexVersion).append("], number_of_files [").append(snapshotStatus.index().numberOfFiles()).append("] with total_size [").append(new ByteSizeValue(snapshotStatus.index().totalSize())).append("], took [").append(TimeValue.timeValueMillis(snapshotStatus.index().time())).append("]\n");
-                    sb.append("    translog : id      [").append(lastTranslogId).append("], number_of_operations [" + snapshotStatus.translog().expectedNumberOfOperations() + "], took [").append(TimeValue.timeValueMillis(snapshotStatus.translog().time())).append("]");
+                    sb.append("    translog : id      [").append(lastTranslogId).append("], number_of_operations [").append(snapshotStatus.translog().expectedNumberOfOperations()).append("], took [").append(TimeValue.timeValueMillis(snapshotStatus.translog().time())).append("]");
                     logger.debug(sb.toString());
                 }
             }
diff --git a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/gateway/blobstore/BlobStoreIndexShardGateway.java b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/gateway/blobstore/BlobStoreIndexShardGateway.java
index 06984c069bf..ea66d72b795 100644
--- a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/gateway/blobstore/BlobStoreIndexShardGateway.java
+++ b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/gateway/blobstore/BlobStoreIndexShardGateway.java
@@ -257,7 +257,7 @@ public abstract class BlobStoreIndexShardGateway extends AbstractIndexShardCompo
                 if (allTranslogFilesExists) {
                     translogCommitPointFiles.addAll(commitPoint.translogFiles());
                     if (snapshot.sameTranslogNewOperations()) {
-                        translogSnapshot.seekForward(snapshot.lastTranslogPosition());
+                        translogSnapshot.seekForward(snapshot.lastTranslogLength());
                         if (translogSnapshot.lengthInBytes() > 0) {
                             snapshotRequired = true;
                             expectedNumberOfOperations = translogSnapshot.totalOperations() - snapshot.lastTotalTranslogOperations();
diff --git a/modules/test/integration/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/test/integration/gateway/fs/AbstractSimpleIndexGatewayTests.java b/modules/test/integration/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/test/integration/gateway/fs/AbstractSimpleIndexGatewayTests.java
index 65695127fe5..b57ccfde3ab 100644
--- a/modules/test/integration/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/test/integration/gateway/fs/AbstractSimpleIndexGatewayTests.java
+++ b/modules/test/integration/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/test/integration/gateway/fs/AbstractSimpleIndexGatewayTests.java
@@ -249,6 +249,11 @@ public abstract class AbstractSimpleIndexGatewayTests extends AbstractNodesTests
             client("server1").prepareIndex("test", "type1", Long.toString(i))
                     .setCreate(true) // make sure we use create, so if we recover wrongly, we will get increments...
                     .setSource(MapBuilder.<String, Object>newMapBuilder().put("test", "value" + i).map()).execute().actionGet();
+
+            // snapshot every 100 so we get some actions going on in the gateway 
+            if ((i % 100) == 0) {
+                client("server1").admin().indices().prepareGatewaySnapshot().execute().actionGet();
+            }
         }
 
         logger.info("--> refreshing and checking count");