diff --git a/src/SparseArrays.jl b/src/SparseArrays.jl
index 4f319880..20110d14 100644
--- a/src/SparseArrays.jl
+++ b/src/SparseArrays.jl
@@ -382,7 +382,7 @@ julia> collect(SparseArrays.iternz(x))
 """
 function iternz end
 
-widelength(x::AbstractSparseArray) = prod(widen, size(x))
+widelength(x::AbstractSparseArray) = *(map(widen, size(x))...)
 # Linear indexing compares an index with `length(A)`, which wraps for 2^63 entries or more
 _checklinearindexing(A::AbstractSparseMatrixCSC) = widelength(A) <= typemax(Int) ||
     throw(OverflowError(string("a ", size(A, 1), "×", size(A, 2), " sparse matrix has more ",
diff --git a/src/constructors.jl b/src/constructors.jl
index bf3beb05..9eebafe4 100644
--- a/src/constructors.jl
+++ b/src/constructors.jl
@@ -714,43 +714,23 @@ julia> sprand(Float64, 3, 0.75)
 """
 function sprand(r::AbstractRNG, m::Integer, n::Integer, density::AbstractFloat, rfn::Function, ::Type{T}) where T
     m, n = Int(m), Int(n)
-    if _sprandoverflows(m, n, density)
-        colptr, rowval, V = _sprand_bycolumn(r, m, n, density, rfn)
-        return SparseMatrixCSC(m, n, colptr, rowval, convert(Vector{T}, V))
-    end
     I, V = _sprandvalues(r, m, n, density, rfn)
     return sparse_sortedlinearindices!(I, convert(Vector{T}, V), m, n)
 end
 function sprand(r::AbstractRNG, m::Integer, n::Integer, density::AbstractFloat, rfn::Function)
     m, n = Int(m), Int(n)
-    if _sprandoverflows(m, n, density)
-        colptr, rowval, V = _sprand_bycolumn(r, m, n, density, rfn)
-        return SparseMatrixCSC(m, n, colptr, rowval, convert(Vector{eltype(V)}, V))
-    end
     I, V = _sprandvalues(r, m, n, density, rfn)
     return sparse_sortedlinearindices!(I, convert(Vector{eltype(V)}, V), m, n)
 end
-# the arguments are checked first, since negative dimensions can overflow too
-function _sprandoverflows(m::Int, n::Int, density::AbstractFloat)
+function _sprandvalues(r::AbstractRNG, m::Int, n::Int, density::AbstractFloat, rfn::F) where {F}
     (m < 0 || n < 0) && throw(ArgumentError("invalid Array dimensions"))
     0 <= density <= 1 || throw(ArgumentError("$density not in [0,1]"))
-    return Base.mul_with_overflow(m, n)[2]
-end
-function _sprandvalues(r::AbstractRNG, m::Int, n::Int, density::AbstractFloat, rfn::F) where {F}
+    # the entries are drawn as linear indices, which wrap for 2^63 entries or more
+    Base.mul_with_overflow(m, n)[2] && throw(OverflowError(string("a ", m, "×", n,
+        " sparse matrix has more entries than `sprand` can draw from")))
     I = randsubseq(r, 1:(m*n), density)
     return I, rfn(r, length(I))
 end
-# an `Int` cannot index the `m*n` entries, so the stored rows are drawn column by column
-function _sprand_bycolumn(r::AbstractRNG, m::Int, n::Int, density::AbstractFloat, rfn::F) where {F}
-    colptr = Vector{Int}(undef, n + 1)
-    colptr[1] = 1
-    rowval, rows = Int[], Int[]
-    for col in 1:n
-        append!(rowval, randsubseq!(r, rows, 1:m, density))
-        colptr[col + 1] = length(rowval) + 1
-    end
-    return colptr, rowval, rfn(r, length(rowval))
-end
 
 sprand(m::Integer, n::Integer, density::AbstractFloat, rfn::Function) =
     sprand(default_rng(), m, n, density, (r, i) -> rfn(i))
diff --git a/src/sparsematrix.jl b/src/sparsematrix.jl
index 010e0dee..02a782af 100644
--- a/src/sparsematrix.jl
+++ b/src/sparsematrix.jl
@@ -319,7 +319,7 @@ function _storedinds(S::SparseMatrixCSCColumnSubset)
     end
     return inds
 end
-widelength(S::SparseMatrixCSCColumnSubset) = prod(widen, size(S))
+widelength(S::SparseMatrixCSCColumnSubset) = *(map(widen, size(S))...)
 widelength(x::Union{SparseColumnView,SparseVectorView}) = length(x)
 # `A` itself where it exposes compressed storage through `nzrange`, `rowvals` and `nonzeros`,
 # otherwise its sparse copy
@@ -984,7 +984,7 @@ similar(S::AbstractSparseMatrixCSC, ::Type{TvNew}, ::Type{TiNew}, m::Integer, n:
     _sparsesimilar(S, TvNew, TiNew, (m, n))
 
 function Base.sizehint!(S::SparseMatrixCSC, n::Integer)
-    nhint = min(n, widelength(S))
+    nhint = Int(min(n, widelength(S)))
     sizehint!(getrowval(S), nhint)
     sizehint!(getnzval(S),  nhint)
     return S
diff --git a/test/issues.jl b/test/issues.jl
index 647e16e6..b765ce0f 100644
--- a/test/issues.jl
+++ b/test/issues.jl
@@ -979,7 +979,7 @@ end
     @test_throws OverflowError B[[1]] = [1.0]
     @test_throws OverflowError B[1] = 1.0
     @test nnz(B) == 0
-    @test nnz(sprand(Xoshiro(1), 2^62, 4, 1e-17)) > 0
+    @test_throws OverflowError sprand(Xoshiro(1), 2^62, 4, 1e-17)
 end
 
 if isdefined(Docs, :undocumented_names) # new in Julia 1.11