lib/PublicInbox/Inbox.pm | 12 +++++++++---

diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/Inbox.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/Inbox.pm
index 47b863094bae63964ff97afc84657473e5c8c75f..4c7305f96dfa041710987697fc4a2dc76eba8549 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/Inbox.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/Inbox.pm
@@ -298,9 +298,15 @@ 	my ($self, $mid, $ref) = @_;
 	my $srch = search($self) or
 			return msg_by_path($self, mid2path($mid), $ref);
 	my $smsg;
-	$srch->retry_reopen(sub {
-		$smsg = $srch->lookup_skeleton($mid) and $smsg->load_expand;
-	});
+	# favor the Message-ID we used for the NNTP article number:
+	if (my $mm = mm($self)) {
+		my $num = $mm->num_for($mid);
+		$smsg = $srch->lookup_article($num);
+	} else {
+		$smsg = $srch->retry_reopen(sub {
+			$srch->lookup_skeleton($mid) and $smsg->load_expand;
+		});
+	}
 	$smsg ? msg_by_smsg($self, $smsg, $ref) : undef;
 }