The 301 response from the Web server should always include an alternative URL to which redirection should occur. If it does, a Web browser will immediately retry the alternative URL. So you never actually see a 301 error in a Web browser, unless perhaps you have a corrupt redirection chain e.g. URL A redirects to URL B which in turn redirects back to URL A. If your client is not a Web browser, it should behave in the same way as a Web browser i.e. immediately retry the alternative URL.