diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index e51f33e1..124f638b 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -14,6 +14,8 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 
 ### Changed
 
+- [#436](https://github.com/spegel-org/spegel/pull/436) Replace http util reverese proxy with custom request forwarding.
+
 ### Deprecated
 
 ### Removed
diff --git a/pkg/registry/registry.go b/pkg/registry/registry.go
index fee9bcb3..b8a36f39 100644
--- a/pkg/registry/registry.go
+++ b/pkg/registry/registry.go
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@ import (
 	"io"
 	"net"
 	"net/http"
-	"net/http/httputil"
 	"net/url"
 	"path"
 	"strconv"
@@ -32,7 +31,7 @@ type Registry struct {
 	throttler        *throttle.Throttler
 	ociClient        oci.Client
 	router           routing.Router
-	transport        http.RoundTripper
+	httpClient       *http.Client
 	localAddr        string
 	resolveRetries   int
 	resolveTimeout   time.Duration
@@ -61,7 +60,7 @@ func WithResolveTimeout(resolveTimeout time.Duration) Option {
 
 func WithTransport(transport http.RoundTripper) Option {
 	return func(r *Registry) {
-		r.transport = transport
+		r.httpClient.Transport = transport
 	}
 }
 
@@ -87,6 +86,7 @@ func NewRegistry(ociClient oci.Client, router routing.Router, opts ...Option) *R
 	r := &Registry{
 		ociClient:        ociClient,
 		router:           router,
+		httpClient:       &http.Client{},
 		resolveRetries:   3,
 		resolveTimeout:   1 * time.Second,
 		resolveLatestTag: true,
@@ -184,10 +184,8 @@ func (r *Registry) registryHandler(rw mux.ResponseWriter, req *http.Request) {
 		}
 	}
 
-	// Request with mirror header are proxied.
+	// Requests without mirror header set will be mirrored
 	if req.Header.Get(MirroredHeaderKey) != "true" {
-		// Set mirrored header in request to stop infinite loops
-		req.Header.Set(MirroredHeaderKey, "true")
 		key := dgst.String()
 		if key == "" {
 			key = ref
@@ -241,6 +239,7 @@ func (r *Registry) handleMirror(rw mux.ResponseWriter, req *http.Request, key st
 		rw.WriteError(http.StatusInternalServerError, err)
 		return
 	}
+
 	// TODO: Refactor context cancel and mirror channel closing
 	for {
 		select {
@@ -255,36 +254,43 @@ func (r *Registry) handleMirror(rw mux.ResponseWriter, req *http.Request, key st
 				return
 			}
 
-			// Modify response returns and error on non 200 status code and NOP error handler skips response writing.
-			// If proxy fails no response is written and it is tried again against a different mirror.
-			// If the response writer has been written to it means that the request was properly proxied.
-			succeeded := false
 			scheme := "http"
 			if req.TLS != nil {
 				scheme = "https"
 			}
-			u := &url.URL{
+			u := url.URL{
 				Scheme: scheme,
 				Host:   ipAddr.String(),
+				Path:   req.URL.Path,
+				// TODO: Should this error early if not set?
+				RawQuery: fmt.Sprintf("ns=%s", req.URL.Query().Get("ns")),
 			}
-			proxy := httputil.NewSingleHostReverseProxy(u)
-			proxy.Transport = r.transport
-			proxy.ErrorHandler = func(_ http.ResponseWriter, _ *http.Request, err error) {
-				log.Error(err, "proxy failed attempting next")
+			forwardReq, err := http.NewRequestWithContext(req.Context(), req.Method, u.String(), nil)
+			if err != nil {
+				rw.WriteError(http.StatusInternalServerError, err)
+				return
 			}
-			proxy.ModifyResponse = func(resp *http.Response) error {
-				if resp.StatusCode != http.StatusOK {
-					err := fmt.Errorf("expected mirror to respond with 200 OK but received: %s", resp.Status)
-					log.Error(err, "mirror failed attempting next")
-					return err
-				}
-				succeeded = true
-				return nil
+			forwardReq.Header.Add(MirroredHeaderKey, "true")
+			resp, err := r.httpClient.Do(forwardReq)
+			if err != nil {
+				log.Error(err, "mirror failed attempting next")
+				break
 			}
-			proxy.ServeHTTP(rw, req)
-			if !succeeded {
+			defer resp.Body.Close()
+			if resp.StatusCode != http.StatusOK {
+				log.Error(fmt.Errorf("expected mirror to respond with 200 OK but received: %s", resp.Status), "mirror failed attempting next")
 				break
 			}
+			for k, v := range resp.Header {
+				for _, vv := range v {
+					rw.Header().Add(k, vv)
+				}
+			}
+			_, err = io.Copy(rw, resp.Body)
+			if err != nil {
+				rw.WriteError(http.StatusInternalServerError, err)
+				return
+			}
 			log.V(5).Info("mirrored request", "url", u.String())
 			return
 		}