diff --git a/raft/raft.go b/raft/raft.go
index f9f38155d..aca9d7ff9 100644
--- a/raft/raft.go
+++ b/raft/raft.go
@@ -437,8 +437,6 @@ func (r *raft) maybeSendAppend(to uint64, sendIfEmpty bool) bool {
 	if pr.IsPaused() {
 		return false
 	}
-	m := pb.Message{}
-	m.To = to
 
 	term, errt := r.raftLog.term(pr.Next - 1)
 	ents, erre := r.raftLog.entries(pr.Next, r.maxMsgSize)
@@ -452,7 +450,6 @@ func (r *raft) maybeSendAppend(to uint64, sendIfEmpty bool) bool {
 			return false
 		}
 
-		m.Type = pb.MsgSnap
 		snapshot, err := r.raftLog.snapshot()
 		if err != nil {
 			if err == ErrSnapshotTemporarilyUnavailable {
@@ -464,33 +461,40 @@ func (r *raft) maybeSendAppend(to uint64, sendIfEmpty bool) bool {
 		if IsEmptySnap(snapshot) {
 			panic("need non-empty snapshot")
 		}
-		m.Snapshot = snapshot
 		sindex, sterm := snapshot.Metadata.Index, snapshot.Metadata.Term
 		r.logger.Debugf("%x [firstindex: %d, commit: %d] sent snapshot[index: %d, term: %d] to %x [%s]",
 			r.id, r.raftLog.firstIndex(), r.raftLog.committed, sindex, sterm, to, pr)
 		pr.BecomeSnapshot(sindex)
 		r.logger.Debugf("%x paused sending replication messages to %x [%s]", r.id, to, pr)
-	} else {
-		m.Type = pb.MsgApp
-		m.Index = pr.Next - 1
-		m.LogTerm = term
-		m.Entries = ents
-		m.Commit = r.raftLog.committed
-		if n := len(m.Entries); n != 0 {
-			switch pr.State {
-			// optimistically increase the next when in StateReplicate
-			case tracker.StateReplicate:
-				last := m.Entries[n-1].Index
-				pr.OptimisticUpdate(last)
-				pr.Inflights.Add(last)
-			case tracker.StateProbe:
-				pr.ProbeSent = true
-			default:
-				r.logger.Panicf("%x is sending append in unhandled state %s", r.id, pr.State)
-			}
+
+		r.send(pb.Message{To: to, Type: pb.MsgSnap, Snapshot: snapshot})
+		return true
+	}
+
+	// Send the actual MsgApp otherwise, and update the progress accordingly.
+	// TODO(pavelkalinnikov): factor out the Progress update to a method
+	next := pr.Next // save Next for later, as the progress update can change it
+	if n := len(ents); n != 0 {
+		switch pr.State {
+		// optimistically increase the next when in StateReplicate
+		case tracker.StateReplicate:
+			last := ents[n-1].Index
+			pr.OptimisticUpdate(last)
+			pr.Inflights.Add(last)
+		case tracker.StateProbe:
+			pr.ProbeSent = true
+		default:
+			r.logger.Panicf("%x is sending append in unhandled state %s", r.id, pr.State)
 		}
 	}
-	r.send(m)
+	r.send(pb.Message{
+		To:      to,
+		Type:    pb.MsgApp,
+		Index:   next - 1,
+		LogTerm: term,
+		Entries: ents,
+		Commit:  r.raftLog.committed,
+	})
 	return true
 }