diff --git a/include/armadillo_bits/SpSubview_meat.hpp b/include/armadillo_bits/SpSubview_meat.hpp
index 750f98ac..a31e7014 100644
--- a/include/armadillo_bits/SpSubview_meat.hpp
+++ b/include/armadillo_bits/SpSubview_meat.hpp
@@ -44,18 +44,28 @@ SpSubview<eT>::SpSubview(const SpMat<eT>& in_m, const uword in_row1, const uword
   
   m.sync_csc();
   
-  // There must be a O(1) way to do this
-  uword lend     = m.col_ptrs[in_col1 + in_n_cols];
-  uword lend_row = in_row1 + in_n_rows;
-  uword count   = 0;
+  // count the number of non-zeros in the subview
+  uword count = 0;
   
-  for(uword i = m.col_ptrs[in_col1]; i < lend; ++i)
+  if( (n_cols == 1) && (n_rows == m.n_rows) )
     {
-    const uword m_row_indices_i = m.row_indices[i];
+    count = m.col_ptrs[aux_col1 + 1] - m.col_ptrs[aux_col1];
+    }
+  else
+    {
+    arma_debug_print("counting non-zeros in sparse subview");
     
-    const bool condition = (m_row_indices_i >= in_row1) && (m_row_indices_i < lend_row);
+    uword lend     = m.col_ptrs[in_col1 + in_n_cols];
+    uword lend_row = in_row1 + in_n_rows;
     
-    count += condition ? uword(1) : uword(0);
+    for(uword i = m.col_ptrs[in_col1]; i < lend; ++i)
+      {
+      const uword m_row_indices_i = m.row_indices[i];
+      
+      const bool condition = (m_row_indices_i >= in_row1) && (m_row_indices_i < lend_row);
+      
+      count += condition ? uword(1) : uword(0);
+      }
     }
   
   access::rw(n_nonzero) = count;
diff --git a/include/armadillo_bits/fn_dot.hpp b/include/armadillo_bits/fn_dot.hpp
index c2294787..f22cd45a 100644
--- a/include/armadillo_bits/fn_dot.hpp
+++ b/include/armadillo_bits/fn_dot.hpp
@@ -289,13 +289,31 @@ dot
   {
   arma_debug_sigprint();
   
+  typedef typename T1::elem_type eT;
+  
+  if(is_SpSubview_col<T2>::value)
+    {
+    // TODO: refactor to use C++17 "if constexpr" to avoid reinterpret_cast shenanigans
+    
+    const SpSubview_col<eT>& yy = reinterpret_cast< const SpSubview_col<eT>& >(y);
+    
+    if(yy.n_rows == yy.m.n_rows)
+      {
+      arma_debug_print("using sparse column vector specialisation");
+      
+      const quasi_unwrap<T1> U(x);
+      
+      arma_conform_assert_same_size(U.M.n_elem, uword(1), yy.n_elem, uword(1), "dot()");
+      
+      return dense_sparse_helper::dot(U.M.memptr(), yy.m, yy.aux_col1);
+      }
+    }
+  
   const   Proxy<T1> pa(x);
   const SpProxy<T2> pb(y);
   
   arma_conform_assert_same_size(pa.get_n_rows(), pa.get_n_cols(), pb.get_n_rows(), pb.get_n_cols(), "dot()");
   
-  typedef typename T1::elem_type eT;
-  
   eT result = eT(0);
   
   typename SpProxy<T2>::const_iterator_type it     = pb.begin();