diff --git a/consul/rpc.go b/consul/rpc.go
index c0f91cf42..ae3fd6781 100644
--- a/consul/rpc.go
+++ b/consul/rpc.go
@@ -30,6 +30,15 @@ const (
 	// maxQueryTime is used to bound the limit of a blocking query
 	maxQueryTime = 600 * time.Second
 
+	// defaultQueryTime is the amount of time we block waiting for a change
+	// if no time is specified. Previously we would wait the maxQueryTime.
+	defaultQueryTime = 300 * time.Second
+
+	// jitterFraction is a the limit to the amount of jitter we apply
+	// to a user specified MaxQueryTime. We divide the specified time by
+	// the fraction. So 16 == 6.25% limit of jitter
+	jitterFraction = 16
+
 	// Warn if the Raft command is larger than this.
 	// If it's over 1MB something is probably being abusive.
 	raftWarnSize = 1024 * 1024
@@ -332,9 +341,12 @@ func (s *Server) blockingRPCOpt(opts *blockingRPCOptions) error {
 	if opts.queryOpts.MaxQueryTime > maxQueryTime {
 		opts.queryOpts.MaxQueryTime = maxQueryTime
 	} else if opts.queryOpts.MaxQueryTime <= 0 {
-		opts.queryOpts.MaxQueryTime = maxQueryTime
+		opts.queryOpts.MaxQueryTime = defaultQueryTime
 	}
 
+	// Apply a small amount of jitter to the request
+	opts.queryOpts.MaxQueryTime += randomStagger(opts.queryOpts.MaxQueryTime / jitterFraction)
+
 	// Setup a query timeout
 	timeout = time.NewTimer(opts.queryOpts.MaxQueryTime)
 
diff --git a/website/source/docs/agent/http.html.markdown b/website/source/docs/agent/http.html.markdown
index 7ada4d670..9e1ae0b9b 100644
--- a/website/source/docs/agent/http.html.markdown
+++ b/website/source/docs/agent/http.html.markdown
@@ -39,9 +39,9 @@ query string parameter to the value of `X-Consul-Index`, indicating that the cli
 to wait for any changes subsequent to that index.
 
 In addition to `index`, endpoints that support blocking will also honor a `wait`
-parameter specifying a maximum duration for the blocking request. If not set, it will
-default to 10 minutes. This value can be specified in the form of "10s" or "5m" (i.e.,
-10 seconds or 5 minutes, respectively).
+parameter specifying a maximum duration for the blocking request. This is limited to
+10 minutes. If not set, the wait time defaults to 5 minutes. This value can be specified
+in the form of "10s" or "5m" (i.e., 10 seconds or 5 minutes, respectively).
 
 A critical note is that the return of a blocking request is **no guarantee** of a change. It
 is possible that the timeout was reached or that there was an idempotent write that does