diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/apache/stormcrawler/protocol/httpclient/HttpProtocol.java b/core/src/main/java/org/apache/stormcrawler/protocol/httpclient/HttpProtocol.java
index a0db6ac12..0c67b1841 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/apache/stormcrawler/protocol/httpclient/HttpProtocol.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/apache/stormcrawler/protocol/httpclient/HttpProtocol.java
@@ -66,7 +66,6 @@
 import org.apache.stormcrawler.proxy.SCProxy;
 import org.apache.stormcrawler.util.ConfUtils;
 import org.apache.stormcrawler.util.CookieConverter;
-import org.jetbrains.annotations.Nullable;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 
 /** Uses Apache httpclient to handle http and https. */
@@ -82,6 +81,11 @@ public class HttpProtocol extends AbstractHttpProtocol
 
     private HttpClientBuilder builder;
 
+    private CloseableHttpClient client;
+
+    private String userAgent;
+    private Collection<BasicHeader> defaultHeaders;
+
     private RequestConfig requestConfig;
     private RequestConfig.Builder requestConfigBuilder;
 
@@ -102,9 +106,9 @@ public void configure(final Config conf) {
 
         globalMaxContent = ConfUtils.getInt(conf, "http.content.limit", -1);
 
-        String userAgent = getAgentString(conf);
+        userAgent = getAgentString(conf);
 
-        Collection<BasicHeader> defaultHeaders = new LinkedList<>();
+        defaultHeaders = new LinkedList<>();
 
         String accept = ConfUtils.getString(conf, "http.accept");
         if (StringUtils.isNotBlank(accept)) {
@@ -153,6 +157,8 @@ public void configure(final Config conf) {
                         .setCookieSpec(CookieSpecs.STANDARD);
 
         requestConfig = requestConfigBuilder.build();
+
+        client = builder.build();
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -163,8 +169,8 @@ public ProtocolResponse getProtocolOutput(String url, Metadata md) throws Except
         // set default request config to global config
         RequestConfig reqConfig = requestConfig;
 
-        // default to the shared builder for non-proxy requests
-        HttpClientBuilder clientBuilder = builder;
+        // default to the shared client for non-proxy requests
+        CloseableHttpClient httpClient = client;
 
         // conditionally add a dynamic proxy
         if (proxyManager != null) {
@@ -173,10 +179,12 @@ public ProtocolResponse getProtocolOutput(String url, Metadata md) throws Except
             if (proxOptional.isPresent()) {
                 SCProxy prox = proxOptional.get();
 
-                // create local copies of builders to avoid polluting shared
-                // state across concurrent requests
+                // create a new builder with the same defaults (user-agent,
+                // headers) to avoid losing them in proxied requests
                 HttpClientBuilder localBuilder =
                         HttpClients.custom()
+                                .setUserAgent(userAgent)
+                                .setDefaultHeaders(defaultHeaders)
                                 .setConnectionManager(CONNECTION_MANAGER)
                                 .setConnectionManagerShared(true)
                                 .disableRedirectHandling()
@@ -215,7 +223,7 @@ public ProtocolResponse getProtocolOutput(String url, Metadata md) throws Except
                         System.currentTimeMillis() - buildStart);
 
                 LOG.debug("fetching with " + prox.toString());
-                clientBuilder = localBuilder;
+                httpClient = localBuilder.build();
             }
         }
 
@@ -268,11 +276,7 @@ public ProtocolResponse getProtocolOutput(String url, Metadata md) throws Except
 
         request.setConfig(reqConfig);
 
-        // no need to release the connection explicitly as this is handled
-        // automatically. The client itself must be closed though.
-        try (CloseableHttpClient httpclient = clientBuilder.build()) {
-            return httpclient.execute(request, responseHandler);
-        }
+        return httpClient.execute(request, responseHandler);
     }
 
     private void addCookiesToRequest(HttpRequestBase request, Metadata md) {
@@ -353,7 +357,6 @@ public ProtocolResponse handleResponse(final HttpResponse response) throws IOExc
         };
     }
 
-    @Nullable
     private static byte[] toByteArray(
             final HttpEntity entity, int maxContent, MutableBoolean trimmed) throws IOException {
 
@@ -363,35 +366,46 @@ private static byte[] toByteArray(
 
         final InputStream instream = entity.getContent();
         if (instream == null) {
-            return null;
-        }
-        Args.check(
-                (entity.getContentLength() <= Constants.MAX_ARRAY_SIZE)
-                        || (maxContent >= 0 && maxContent <= Constants.MAX_ARRAY_SIZE),
-                "HTTP entity too large to be buffered in memory");
-        int reportedLength = (int) entity.getContentLength();
-        // set default size for buffer: 100 KB
-        int bufferInitSize = 102400;
-        if (reportedLength != -1) {
-            bufferInitSize = reportedLength;
-        }
-        // avoid init of too large a buffer when we will trim anyway
-        if (maxContent != -1 && bufferInitSize > maxContent) {
-            bufferInitSize = maxContent;
+            return new byte[] {};
         }
-        final ByteArrayBuffer buffer = new ByteArrayBuffer(bufferInitSize);
-        final byte[] tmp = new byte[4096];
-        int lengthRead;
-        while ((lengthRead = instream.read(tmp)) != -1) {
-            // check whether we need to trim
-            if (maxContent != -1 && buffer.length() + lengthRead > maxContent) {
-                buffer.append(tmp, 0, maxContent - buffer.length());
-                trimmed.setValue(true);
-                break;
+        try (instream) {
+            Args.check(
+                    (entity.getContentLength() <= Constants.MAX_ARRAY_SIZE)
+                            || (maxContent >= 0 && maxContent <= Constants.MAX_ARRAY_SIZE),
+                    "HTTP entity too large to be buffered in memory");
+            int reportedLength = (int) entity.getContentLength();
+            // set default size for buffer: 100 KB
+            int bufferInitSize = 102400;
+            if (reportedLength != -1) {
+                bufferInitSize = reportedLength;
             }
-            buffer.append(tmp, 0, lengthRead);
+            // avoid init of too large a buffer when we will trim anyway
+            if (maxContent != -1 && bufferInitSize > maxContent) {
+                bufferInitSize = maxContent;
+            }
+            final ByteArrayBuffer buffer = new ByteArrayBuffer(bufferInitSize);
+            final byte[] tmp = new byte[4096];
+            int lengthRead;
+            while ((lengthRead = instream.read(tmp)) != -1) {
+                // check whether we need to trim
+                if (maxContent != -1 && buffer.length() + lengthRead > maxContent) {
+                    buffer.append(tmp, 0, maxContent - buffer.length());
+                    trimmed.setValue(true);
+                    break;
+                }
+                buffer.append(tmp, 0, lengthRead);
+            }
+            return buffer.toByteArray();
+        }
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void cleanup() {
+        try {
+            client.close();
+        } catch (IOException e) {
+            LOG.error("Error closing HTTP client", e);
         }
-        return buffer.toByteArray();
     }
 
     public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {