diff --git a/prometheus/examples_test.go b/prometheus/examples_test.go
index 14e853d..4be1998 100644
--- a/prometheus/examples_test.go
+++ b/prometheus/examples_test.go
@@ -161,7 +161,7 @@ func ExampleInstrumentHandler() {
 	// exported to Prometheus, partitioned by HTTP status code and method
 	// and by the handler name (here "fileserver").
 	http.Handle("/doc", prometheus.InstrumentHandler(
-		"fileserver", http.FileServer(http.Dir("/usr/share/doc")),
+		"fileserver", prometheus.DefaultRegistry, http.FileServer(http.Dir("/usr/share/doc")),
 	))
 	// The Prometheus handler still has to be registered to handle the
 	// "/metrics" endpoint. The handler returned by prometheus.Handler() is
@@ -169,7 +169,7 @@ func ExampleInstrumentHandler() {
 	// example, we want the handler name to be "metrics", so we instrument
 	// the uninstrumented Prometheus handler ourselves.
 	http.Handle("/metrics", prometheus.InstrumentHandler(
-		"metrics", prometheus.UninstrumentedHandler(),
+		"metrics", prometheus.DefaultRegistry, prometheus.UninstrumentedHandler(),
 	))
 }
 
diff --git a/prometheus/http.go b/prometheus/http.go
index 46ae4c2..ac3fb1f 100644
--- a/prometheus/http.go
+++ b/prometheus/http.go
@@ -46,16 +46,16 @@ func nowSeries(t ...time.Time) nower {
 	})
 }
 
-// InstrumentHandler wraps the given HTTP handler for instrumentation. It
-// registers four metric vector collectors (if not already done) and reports
-// http metrics to the (newly or already) registered collectors:
+// InstrumentHandler wraps the given HTTP handler with instrumentation.
+// It registers four metric vector collectors in the provided Registry.
 // http_requests_total (CounterVec), http_request_duration_microseconds
 // (SummaryVec), http_request_size_bytes (SummaryVec), http_response_size_bytes
 // (SummaryVec). Each has three labels: handler, method, code. The value of the
 // handler label is set by the handlerName parameter of this function.
-func InstrumentHandler(name string, hnd http.Handler) http.Handler {
+func InstrumentHandler(name string, r Registry, hnd http.Handler) http.Handler {
 	return InstrumentHandlerWithOpts(
 		SummaryOpts{Subsystem: "http", ConstLabels: Labels{"handler": name}},
+		r,
 		hnd,
 	)
 }
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ func InstrumentHandler(name string, hnd http.Handler) http.Handler {
 // cannot use SummaryOpts. Instead, a CounterOpts struct is created internally,
 // and all its fields are set to the equally named fields in the provided
 // SummaryOpts.
-func InstrumentHandlerWithOpts(opts SummaryOpts, hnd http.Handler) http.Handler {
+func InstrumentHandlerWithOpts(opts SummaryOpts, r Registry, hnd http.Handler) http.Handler {
 	reqCnt := NewCounterVec(
 		CounterOpts{
 			Namespace:   opts.Namespace,
@@ -109,10 +109,10 @@ func InstrumentHandlerWithOpts(opts SummaryOpts, hnd http.Handler) http.Handler
 	opts.Help = "The HTTP response sizes in bytes."
 	resSz := NewSummaryVec(opts, instLabels)
 
-	regReqCnt := MustRegisterOrGet(reqCnt).(*CounterVec)
-	regReqDur := MustRegisterOrGet(reqDur).(*SummaryVec)
-	regReqSz := MustRegisterOrGet(reqSz).(*SummaryVec)
-	regResSz := MustRegisterOrGet(resSz).(*SummaryVec)
+	regReqCnt := r.MustRegisterOrGet(reqCnt).(*CounterVec)
+	regReqDur := r.MustRegisterOrGet(reqDur).(*SummaryVec)
+	regReqSz := r.MustRegisterOrGet(reqSz).(*SummaryVec)
+	regResSz := r.MustRegisterOrGet(resSz).(*SummaryVec)
 
 	return http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 		now := time.Now()
diff --git a/prometheus/http_test.go b/prometheus/http_test.go
index da3b75d..075821a 100644
--- a/prometheus/http_test.go
+++ b/prometheus/http_test.go
@@ -39,14 +39,12 @@ func TestInstrumentHandler(t *testing.T) {
 	now = nowSeries(instant, end)
 	respBody := respBody("Howdy there!")
 
-	hndlr := InstrumentHandler("test-handler", respBody)
-
 	opts := SummaryOpts{
 		Subsystem:   "http",
 		ConstLabels: Labels{"handler": "test-handler"},
 	}
 
-	reqCnt := MustRegisterOrGet(NewCounterVec(
+	reqCnt := NewCounterVec(
 		CounterOpts{
 			Namespace:   opts.Namespace,
 			Subsystem:   opts.Subsystem,
@@ -55,30 +53,21 @@ func TestInstrumentHandler(t *testing.T) {
 			ConstLabels: opts.ConstLabels,
 		},
 		instLabels,
-	)).(*CounterVec)
+	)
 
 	opts.Name = "request_duration_microseconds"
 	opts.Help = "The HTTP request latencies in microseconds."
-	reqDur := MustRegisterOrGet(NewSummaryVec(opts, instLabels)).(*SummaryVec)
+	reqDur := NewSummaryVec(opts, instLabels)
 
-	opts.Name = "request_size_bytes"
-	opts.Help = "The HTTP request sizes in bytes."
-	reqSz := MustRegisterOrGet(NewSummaryVec(opts, instLabels)).(*SummaryVec)
-
-	opts.Name = "response_size_bytes"
-	opts.Help = "The HTTP response sizes in bytes."
-	resSz := MustRegisterOrGet(NewSummaryVec(opts, instLabels)).(*SummaryVec)
-
-	reqCnt.Reset()
-	reqDur.Reset()
-	reqSz.Reset()
-	resSz.Reset()
-
-	resp := httptest.NewRecorder()
-	req := &http.Request{
-		Method: "GET",
+	reg, err := NewRegistry(reqCnt, reqDur)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("got err: %v", err)
 	}
 
+	resp := httptest.NewRecorder()
+	req := &http.Request{Method: "GET"}
+
+	hndlr := InstrumentHandler("test-handler", reg, respBody)
 	hndlr.ServeHTTP(resp, req)
 
 	if resp.Code != http.StatusTeapot {
diff --git a/prometheus/registry.go b/prometheus/registry.go
index 103f03c..093b1be 100644
--- a/prometheus/registry.go
+++ b/prometheus/registry.go
@@ -125,6 +125,10 @@ type Registry interface {
 	// makes more sense.
 	Register(Collector) (Collector, error)
 
+	// MustRegister works like Register but panics where Register would have
+	// returned an error.
+	MustRegister(Collector) Collector
+
 	// RegisterOrGet works like Register but does not return an error if a Collector
 	// is registered that equals a previously registered Collector. (Two Collectors
 	// are considered equal if their Describe method yields the same set of
@@ -140,6 +144,10 @@ type Registry interface {
 	// makes more sense.
 	RegisterOrGet(Collector) (Collector, error)
 
+	// MustRegisterOrGet works like Register but panics where RegisterOrGet would
+	// have returned an error.
+	MustRegisterOrGet(Collector) Collector
+
 	// Unregister unregisters the Collector that equals the Collector passed in as
 	// an argument. (Two Collectors are considered equal if their Describe method
 	// yields the same set of descriptors.) The function returns whether a Collector
@@ -268,11 +276,7 @@ func Register(m Collector) (Collector, error) {
 // MustRegister works like Register but panics where Register would have
 // returned an error.
 func MustRegister(m Collector) Collector {
-	m, err := Register(m)
-	if err != nil {
-		panic(err)
-	}
-	return m
+	return DefaultRegistry.MustRegister(m)
 }
 
 // RegisterOrGet works like Register but does not return an error if a Collector
@@ -378,7 +382,7 @@ type registry struct {
 }
 
 func (r *registry) Handler() http.Handler {
-	return InstrumentHandler("prometheus", r.UninstrumentedHandler())
+	return InstrumentHandler("prometheus", r, r.UninstrumentedHandler())
 }
 
 func (r *registry) UninstrumentedHandler() http.Handler {
@@ -462,6 +466,14 @@ func (r *registry) Register(c Collector) (Collector, error) {
 	return c, nil
 }
 
+func (r *registry) MustRegister(m Collector) Collector {
+	m, err := r.Register(m)
+	if err != nil {
+		panic(err)
+	}
+	return m
+}
+
 func (r *registry) RegisterOrGet(m Collector) (Collector, error) {
 	existing, err := r.Register(m)
 	if err != nil && err != errAlreadyReg {
@@ -470,6 +482,14 @@ func (r *registry) RegisterOrGet(m Collector) (Collector, error) {
 	return existing, nil
 }
 
+func (r *registry) MustRegisterOrGet(m Collector) Collector {
+	m, err := r.RegisterOrGet(m)
+	if err != nil {
+		panic(err)
+	}
+	return m
+}
+
 func (r *registry) Unregister(c Collector) bool {
 	descChan := make(chan *Desc, capDescChan)
 	go func() {