diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/conversion/utils.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/conversion/utils.py
index 22639801ff..1eb063cdd8 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/conversion/utils.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/conversion/utils.py
@@ -215,7 +215,7 @@ class HeuristicProcessor(object):
             [r"[^'\"]?(Introduction|Synopsis|Acknowledgements|Epilogue|CHAPTER|Kapitel|Volume\b|Prologue|Book\b|Part\b|Dedication|Preface)\s*([\d\w-]+\:?\'?\s*){0,5}", True, True, True, False, "Searching for common section headings", 'common'],
             [r"[^'\"]?(CHAPTER|Kapitel)\s*([\dA-Z\-\'\"\?!#,]+\s*){0,7}\s*", True, True, True, False, "Searching for most common chapter headings", 'chapter'],  # Highest frequency headings which include titles
             [r"<b[^>]*>\s*(<span[^>]*>)?\s*(?!([*#•=]+\s*)+)(\s*(?=[\d.\w#\-*\s]+<)([\d.\w#-*]+\s*){1,5}\s*)(?!\.)(</span>)?\s*</b>", True, True, True, False, "Searching for emphasized lines", 'emphasized'], # Emphasized lines
-            [r"[^'\"]?(\d+(\.|:))\s*([\dA-Z\-\'\"#,]+\s*){0,7}\s*", True, True, True, False, "Searching for numeric chapter headings", 'numeric'],  # Numeric Chapters
+            [r"[^'\"]?(\d+(\.|:))\s*([\w\-\'\"#,]+\s*){0,7}\s*", True, True, True, False, "Searching for numeric chapter headings", 'numeric'],  # Numeric Chapters
             [r"([A-Z]\s+){3,}\s*([\d\w-]+\s*){0,3}\s*", True, True, True, False, "Searching for letter spaced headings", 'letter_spaced'],  # Spaced Lettering
             [r"[^'\"]?(\d+\.?\s+([\d\w-]+\:?\'?-?\s?){0,5})\s*", True, True, True, False, "Searching for numeric chapters with titles", 'numeric_title'], # Numeric Titles
             [r"[^'\"]?(\d+)\s*([\dA-Z\-\'\"\?!#,]+\s*){0,7}\s*", True, True, True, False, "Searching for simple numeric headings", 'plain_number'],  # Numeric Chapters, no dot or colon
@@ -275,7 +275,7 @@ class HeuristicProcessor(object):
                         self.log.debug(unicode(type_name)+" had "+unicode(hits)+" hits - "+unicode(self.chapters_no_title)+" chapters with no title, "+unicode(self.chapters_with_title)+" chapters with titles, "+unicode(float(self.chapters_with_title) / float(hits))+" percent. ")
                         if type_name == 'common':
                             analysis_result.append([chapter_type, n_lookahead_req, strict_title, ignorecase, title_req, log_message, type_name])
-                        elif self.min_chapters <= hits < max_chapters:
+                        elif self.min_chapters <= hits < max_chapters or self.min_chapters < 3 > hits:
                             analysis_result.append([chapter_type, n_lookahead_req, strict_title, ignorecase, title_req, log_message, type_name])
                             break
                 else: