diff --git a/src/pyarray.jl b/src/pyarray.jl
index f3db2582..48e91685 100644
--- a/src/pyarray.jl
+++ b/src/pyarray.jl
@@ -212,31 +212,43 @@ Base.summary{T}(a::PyArray{T}) = string(Base.dims2string(size(a)), " ",
 #TODO: is this correct for all buffer types other than contig/dense?
 #TODO: get rid of this, should be copy! but copy! uses similar under the hood
 function Base.copy{T,N}(a::PyArray{T,N})
-    if N > 1 && a.c_contig # equivalent to f_contig with reversed dims
-        B = pointer_to_array(a.data, ntuple(N, n -> a.dims[N - n + 1]))
-        return N == 2 ? transpose(B) : permutedims(B, (N:-1:1))
+    if N > 1 && a.c_contig i
+        # equivalent to f_contig with reversed dims
+        B = pointer_to_array(a.data, (Int[a.dims[N - d + 1] for d in 1:N]...))
+        if N == 2
+            return transpose(B)
+        else
+            return permutedims(B, N:-1:1)
+        end
     end
     A = Array(T, a.dims)
     if a.f_contig
         ccall(:memcpy, Void, (Ptr{T}, Ptr{T}, Int), A, a, sizeof(T) * length(a))
         return A
-    else
-        return copy!(A, a)
     end
+    return copy!(A, a)
 end
 
-#TODO: Bounds checking is needed
 Base.getindex{T}(a::PyArray{T,0}) = unsafe_load(a.data)
 
-Base.getindex{T}(a::PyArray{T,1}, i::Integer) =
+function Base.getindex{T}(a::PyArray{T,1}, i::Integer)
+    1 <= i <= length(a) || throw(BoundsError())
     unsafe_load(a.data, 1 + (i-1) * a.strides[1])
+end
 
-Base.getindex{T}(a::PyArray{T,2}, i::Integer, j::Integer) =
+function Base.getindex{T}(a::PyArray{T,2}, i::Integer, j::Integer)
+    1 <= i <= size(a,1) || throw(BoundsError())
+    1 <= j <= size(a,2) || throw(BoundsError())
     unsafe_load(a.data, 1 + (i-1) * a.strides[1] + (j-1) * a.strides[2])
+end
 
-Base.getindex(a::PyArray, i::Integer) =
-    a.f_contig ? unsafe_load(a.data, i) :
-                 getindex(a, ind2sub(a.dims, i)...)
+function Base.getindex(a::PyArray, i::Integer)
+    if a.f_contig
+        1 <= i <= length(a) || throw(BoundsError())
+        return unsafe_load(a.data, i)
+    end
+    return getindex(a, ind2sub(a.dims, i)...)
+end
 
 function Base.getindex(a::PyArray, is::Integer...)
     index = 1
@@ -265,14 +277,22 @@ end
 
 Base.setindex!{T}(a::PyArray{T,0}, v) = (unsafe_store!(pointer(a), v, 1); v)
 
-Base.setindex!{T}(a::PyArray{T,1}, v, i::Integer) =
-    (unsafe_store!(pointer(a), v, 1 + (i-1) * a.strides[1]); v)
+function Base.setindex!{T}(a::PyArray{T,1}, v, i::Integer)
+    1 <= i <= length(a) || throw(BoundsError())
+    unsafe_store!(pointer(a), v, 1 + (i-1) * a.strides[1])
+    return v
+end
 
-Base.setindex!{T}(a::PyArray{T,2}, v, i::Integer, j::Integer) =
-    (unsafe_store!(pointer(a), v, 1 + (i-1) * a.strides[1] + (j-1) * a.strides[2]); v)
+function Base.setindex!{T}(a::PyArray{T,2}, v, i::Integer, j::Integer)
+    1 <= i <= size(a,1) || throw(BoundsError())
+    1 <= j <= size(a,2) || throw(BoundsError())
+    unsafe_store!(pointer(a), v, 1 + (i-1) * a.strides[1] + (j-1) * a.strides[2])
+    return v
+end
 
 function Base.setindex!(a::PyArray, v, i::Integer)
     if a.f_contig
+        1 <= i <= length(a) || throw(BoundsError())
         unsafe_store!(pointer(a), v, i)
         return v
     end