diff --git a/src/cast.rs b/src/cast.rs
index aa24de944a7..cb0b1121709 100644
--- a/src/cast.rs
+++ b/src/cast.rs
@@ -19,9 +19,21 @@ impl<'a, 'tcx> EvalContext<'a, 'tcx> {
             F32 => self.cast_float(val.to_f32()? as f64, dest_ty),
             F64 => self.cast_float(val.to_f64()?, dest_ty),
 
-            I8 | I16 | I32 | I64 | I128 => self.cast_signed_int(val.to_i128()?, dest_ty),
+            I8 | I16 | I32 | I64 | I128 => {
+                if val.is_ptr() {
+                    self.cast_ptr(val, dest_ty)
+                } else {
+                    self.cast_signed_int(val.to_i128()?, dest_ty)
+                }
+            },
 
-            Bool | Char | U8 | U16 | U32 | U64 | U128 => self.cast_int(val.to_u128()?, dest_ty, false),
+            Bool | Char | U8 | U16 | U32 | U64 | U128 => {
+                if val.is_ptr() {
+                    self.cast_ptr(val, dest_ty)
+                } else {
+                    self.cast_int(val.to_u128()?, dest_ty, false)
+                }
+            },
 
             FnPtr | Ptr => self.cast_ptr(val, dest_ty),
         }
@@ -70,6 +82,7 @@ impl<'a, 'tcx> EvalContext<'a, 'tcx> {
             TyChar if v as u8 as u128 == v => Ok(PrimVal::Bytes(v)),
             TyChar => Err(EvalError::InvalidChar(v)),
 
+            // No alignment check needed for raw pointers
             TyRawPtr(_) => Ok(PrimVal::Bytes(v % (1 << self.memory.pointer_size()))),
 
             _ => Err(EvalError::Unimplemented(format!("int to {:?} cast", ty))),
@@ -94,8 +107,10 @@ impl<'a, 'tcx> EvalContext<'a, 'tcx> {
     fn cast_ptr(&self, ptr: PrimVal, ty: Ty<'tcx>) -> EvalResult<'tcx, PrimVal> {
         use rustc::ty::TypeVariants::*;
         match ty.sty {
-            TyRef(..) | TyRawPtr(_) | TyFnPtr(_) | TyInt(_) | TyUint(_) =>
+            // Casting to a reference or fn pointer is not permitted by rustc, no need to support it here.
+            TyRawPtr(_) | TyInt(IntTy::Is) | TyUint(UintTy::Us) =>
                 Ok(ptr),
+            TyInt(_) | TyUint(_) => Err(EvalError::ReadPointerAsBytes),
             _ => Err(EvalError::Unimplemented(format!("ptr to {:?} cast", ty))),
         }
     }
diff --git a/src/error.rs b/src/error.rs
index 0c23038c3c3..919232d9eef 100644
--- a/src/error.rs
+++ b/src/error.rs
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ pub enum EvalError<'tcx> {
         access: bool,
         allocation_size: u64,
     },
-    NullPointerOutOfBounds,
+    InvalidNullPointerUsage,
     ReadPointerAsBytes,
     ReadBytesAsPointer,
     InvalidPointerMath,
@@ -84,8 +84,8 @@ impl<'tcx> Error for EvalError<'tcx> {
                 "invalid enum discriminant value read",
             EvalError::PointerOutOfBounds { .. } =>
                 "pointer offset outside bounds of allocation",
-            EvalError::NullPointerOutOfBounds =>
-                "invalid NULL pointer offset",
+            EvalError::InvalidNullPointerUsage =>
+                "invalid use of NULL pointer",
             EvalError::ReadPointerAsBytes =>
                 "a raw memory access tried to access part of a pointer value as raw bytes",
             EvalError::ReadBytesAsPointer =>
diff --git a/src/eval_context.rs b/src/eval_context.rs
index 7052a411f7e..ece2b37209c 100644
--- a/src/eval_context.rs
+++ b/src/eval_context.rs
@@ -717,19 +717,9 @@ impl<'a, 'tcx> EvalContext<'a, 'tcx> {
                                 (Value::ByVal(_), _) => bug!("expected fat ptr"),
                             }
                         } else {
-                            // First, try casting
-                            let dest_val = self.value_to_primval(src, src_ty).and_then(
-                                |src_val| { self.cast_primval(src_val, src_ty, dest_ty) })
-                                // Alternatively, if the sizes are equal, try just reading at the target type
-                                .or_else(|err| {
-                                    let size = self.type_size(src_ty)?;
-                                    if size.is_some() && size == self.type_size(dest_ty)? {
-                                        self.value_to_primval(src, dest_ty)
-                                    } else {
-                                        Err(err)
-                                    }
-                                });
-                            self.write_value(Value::ByVal(dest_val?), dest, dest_ty)?;
+                            let src_val = self.value_to_primval(src, src_ty)?;
+                            let dest_val = self.cast_primval(src_val, src_ty, dest_ty)?;
+                            self.write_value(Value::ByVal(dest_val), dest, dest_ty)?;
                         }
                     }
 
@@ -908,7 +898,7 @@ impl<'a, 'tcx> EvalContext<'a, 'tcx> {
         // allocation.
 
         if ptr.is_null()? { // NULL pointers must only be offset by 0
-            return if offset == 0 { Ok(ptr) } else { Err(EvalError::NullPointerOutOfBounds) };
+            return if offset == 0 { Ok(ptr) } else { Err(EvalError::InvalidNullPointerUsage) };
         }
         // FIXME: assuming here that type size is < i64::max_value()
         let pointee_size = self.type_size(pointee_ty)?.expect("cannot offset a pointer to an unsized type") as i64;
@@ -919,7 +909,7 @@ impl<'a, 'tcx> EvalContext<'a, 'tcx> {
                 self.memory.check_bounds(ptr, false)?;
             } else if ptr.is_null()? {
                 // We moved *to* a NULL pointer.  That seems wrong, LLVM considers the NULL pointer its own small allocation.  Reject this, for now.
-                return Err(EvalError::NullPointerOutOfBounds);
+                return Err(EvalError::InvalidNullPointerUsage);
             }
             Ok(ptr)
         } else {
diff --git a/tests/compile-fail/ptr_int_cast.rs b/tests/compile-fail/ptr_int_cast.rs
index b004a18ff46..396c71ebb03 100644
--- a/tests/compile-fail/ptr_int_cast.rs
+++ b/tests/compile-fail/ptr_int_cast.rs
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 fn main() {
     let x = &1;
     // Casting down to u8 and back up to a pointer loses too much precision; this must not work.
-    let x = x as *const i32 as u8;
-    let x = x as *const i32; //~ ERROR: a raw memory access tried to access part of a pointer value as raw bytes
+    let x = x as *const i32;
+    let x = x as u8; //~ ERROR: a raw memory access tried to access part of a pointer value as raw bytes
+    let x = x as *const i32;
     let _ = unsafe { *x };
 }