diff --git a/s/chunk.cpp b/s/chunk.cpp
index 761ca44b41a..81283937eab 100644
--- a/s/chunk.cpp
+++ b/s/chunk.cpp
@@ -695,10 +695,9 @@ namespace mongo {
     ChunkManager::ChunkManager( DBConfig * config , string ns , ShardKeyPattern pattern , bool unique ) : 
         _config( config ) , _ns( ns ) , 
         _key( pattern ) , _unique( unique ) , 
-        _sequenceNumber(  ++NextSequenceNumber ), 
         _lock("rw:ChunkManager"), _nsLock( ConnectionString( configServer.modelServer() , ConnectionString::SYNC ) , ns )
     {
-        _reload_inlock();
+        _reload_inlock();  // will set _sequenceNumber
     }
 
     ChunkManager::~ChunkManager(){
@@ -722,15 +721,20 @@ namespace mongo {
 
             if (_isValid()){
                 _chunkRanges.reloadAll(_chunkMap);
+
+                // The shard versioning mechanism hinges on keeping track of the number of times we reloaded ChunkManager's.
+                // Increasing this number here will prompt checkShardVersion() to refresh the connection-level versions to
+                // the most up to date value.
+                _sequenceNumber = ++NextSequenceNumber; 
+
                 return;
             }
 
             if (_chunkMap.size() < 10){ 
                 _printChunks();
             }
-            // TODO which one is it? millis or secs?
+
             sleepmillis(10 * (3-tries));
-            sleepsecs(10);
         }
 
         msgasserted(13282, "Couldn't load a valid config for " + _ns + " after 3 attempts. Please try again.");
diff --git a/s/shard_version.cpp b/s/shard_version.cpp
index cf864efec24..3f4d95b1e1d 100644
--- a/s/shard_version.cpp
+++ b/s/shard_version.cpp
@@ -97,6 +97,8 @@ namespace mongo {
             officialSequenceNumber = manager->getSequenceNumber();
         }
 
+        // has the ChunkManager been reloaded since the last time we updated the connection-level version?
+        // (ie, last time we issued the setShardVersions below)
         unsigned long long sequenceNumber = connectionShardStatus.getSequence(&conn,ns);
         if ( sequenceNumber == officialSequenceNumber ){
             return false;