diff --git a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/lucene/search/XBooleanFilter.java b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/lucene/search/XBooleanFilter.java
index 03d8e728f28..e8cda54270e 100644
--- a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/lucene/search/XBooleanFilter.java
+++ b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/lucene/search/XBooleanFilter.java
@@ -25,7 +25,6 @@ import org.apache.lucene.search.DocIdSet;
 import org.apache.lucene.search.Filter;
 import org.apache.lucene.search.FilterClause;
 import org.apache.lucene.util.FixedBitSet;
-import org.apache.lucene.util.OpenBitSetDISI;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.lucene.docset.DocSet;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.lucene.docset.DocSets;
 
@@ -109,18 +108,6 @@ public class XBooleanFilter extends Filter {
         return res;
     }
 
-    /**
-     * Provide a SortedVIntList when it is definitely smaller
-     * than an OpenBitSet.
-     *
-     * @deprecated Either use CachingWrapperFilter, or
-     *             switch to a different DocIdSet implementation yourself.
-     *             This method will be removed in Lucene 4.0
-     */
-    protected final DocIdSet finalResult(OpenBitSetDISI result, int maxDocs) {
-        return result;
-    }
-
     /**
      * Adds a new FilterClause to the Boolean Filter container
      *