diff -r 8bac00eadfda Lib/test/test_sys.py
--- a/Lib/test/test_sys.py	Wed May 06 14:19:22 2015 +0300
+++ b/Lib/test/test_sys.py	Wed May 06 08:58:35 2015 -0700
@@ -986,7 +986,7 @@
         # PyCapsule
         # XXX
         # rangeiterator
-        check(iter(range(1)), size('4l'))
+        check(iter(range(1)), size('4l2P'))
         # reverse
         check(reversed(''), size('nP'))
         # range
diff -r 8bac00eadfda Objects/rangeobject.c
--- a/Objects/rangeobject.c	Wed May 06 14:19:22 2015 +0300
+++ b/Objects/rangeobject.c	Wed May 06 08:58:35 2015 -0700
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 #include "Python.h"
 #include "structmember.h"
+#include "longintrepr.h"
 
 /* Support objects whose length is > PY_SSIZE_T_MAX.
 
@@ -750,21 +751,56 @@
 
 typedef struct {
         PyObject_HEAD
+        PyLongObject *older;
+        PyLongObject *old;
         long    index;
         long    start;
         long    step;
         long    len;
 } rangeiterobject;
 
+#ifndef NSMALLPOSINTS
+#define NSMALLPOSINTS           257
+#endif
+
 static PyObject *
 rangeiter_next(rangeiterobject *r)
 {
-    if (r->index < r->len)
-        /* cast to unsigned to avoid possible signed overflow
-           in intermediate calculations. */
-        return PyLong_FromLong((long)(r->start +
-                                      (unsigned long)(r->index++) * r->step));
-    return NULL;
+    PyObject *o;
+    long value;
+
+    if (r->index >= r->len)
+        return NULL;
+
+    /* cast to unsigned to avoid possible signed overflow
+       in intermediate calculations. */
+    value = (long)(r->start + (unsigned long)(r->index++) * r->step);
+
+    if (r->older) {
+        int r_older_is_suitable = (Py_REFCNT(r->older) == 1) && (Py_SIZE(r->older) == 1);
+        int value_fits = (value >= NSMALLPOSINTS) && (value < PyLong_BASE);
+
+        if (r_older_is_suitable && value_fits) {
+            r->older->ob_digit[0] = value;
+            o = (PyObject *)r->older;
+            r->older = r->old;
+            r->old = (PyLongObject *)o;
+            Py_INCREF(o);
+            return o;
+        }
+
+        Py_DECREF(r->older);
+        r->older = NULL;
+    }
+
+    o = PyLong_FromLong(value);
+    if (Py_SIZE(o) == 1) {
+        assert(r->older == NULL);
+        r->older = r->old;
+        r->old = (PyLongObject *)o;
+        Py_INCREF(o);
+    }
+    return o;
 }
 
 static PyObject *
@@ -817,6 +853,8 @@
     else if (index > r->len)
         index = r->len; /* exhausted iterator */
     r->index = index;
+    Py_CLEAR(r->older);
+    Py_CLEAR(r->old);
     Py_RETURN_NONE;
 }
 
@@ -835,13 +873,21 @@
 
 static PyObject *rangeiter_new(PyTypeObject *, PyObject *args, PyObject *kw);
 
+static void
+rangeiter_dealloc(rangeiterobject *r)
+{
+    Py_CLEAR(r->older);
+    Py_CLEAR(r->old);
+    PyObject_Del(r);
+}
+
 PyTypeObject PyRangeIter_Type = {
         PyVarObject_HEAD_INIT(&PyType_Type, 0)
         "range_iterator",                        /* tp_name */
         sizeof(rangeiterobject),                /* tp_basicsize */
         0,                                      /* tp_itemsize */
         /* methods */
-        (destructor)PyObject_Del,               /* tp_dealloc */
+        (destructor)rangeiter_dealloc,          /* tp_dealloc */
         0,                                      /* tp_print */
         0,                                      /* tp_getattr */
         0,                                      /* tp_setattr */
@@ -917,6 +963,7 @@
         return NULL;
     it->start = start;
     it->step = step;
+    it->older = it->old = NULL;
     ulen = get_len_of_range(start, stop, step);
     if (ulen > (unsigned long)LONG_MAX) {
         Py_DECREF(it);