diff --git a/src/ezmsg/util/messages/axisarray.py b/src/ezmsg/util/messages/axisarray.py
index c52d1293..a6acc78c 100644
--- a/src/ezmsg/util/messages/axisarray.py
+++ b/src/ezmsg/util/messages/axisarray.py
@@ -253,6 +253,23 @@ def __eq__(self, other):
             return ArrayWithNamedDims.__eq__(self, other)
         return NotImplemented
 
+    def __getstate__(self) -> dict[str, typing.Any]:
+        """
+        Materialize :attr:`fingerprint` before pickling, so it rides along.
+
+        On the far side of a process boundary every message unpickles into a
+        new axis object; without a precomputed fingerprint, the first consumer
+        there would recompute it for every message. Computing it here costs a
+        dict lookup when the producer reuses its axis objects, and otherwise
+        moves the one computation to the publisher, whichever unit built the
+        axis and whether or not it touched the fingerprint.
+        """
+        self.fingerprint
+        # ArrayWithNamedDims.__getstate__ (reached through the MRO, so this
+        # works on 3.10 too) makes strided coordinate data contiguous; the
+        # fingerprint is computed above from the same values either way.
+        return super().__getstate__()
+
     @property
     def fingerprint(self) -> tuple | None:
         """
@@ -274,8 +291,10 @@ def fingerprint(self) -> tuple | None:
 
         Computed on first access and cached on the instance, so the cost is paid
         once per axis object rather than once per consumer per message. The
-        cached value is part of ``__dict__``, so it survives pickling and
-        arrives already computed on the far side of a process boundary.
+        cached value is part of ``__dict__``, and pickling computes it if it
+        has not been already (see :meth:`__getstate__`), so it always arrives
+        precomputed on the far side of a process boundary. Producers therefore
+        need not touch it themselves.
 
         ``None`` when the contents cannot be digested (a non-numpy backing
         array, or an object dtype holding values with no string form). Callers
@@ -320,9 +339,18 @@ def _compute_fingerprint(self) -> tuple | None:
         # CPython's siphash over the result at ~5.5 GB/s, while crc32 reads the
         # array's buffer directly at ~29 GB/s.
         #
+        # 64 bits, not 32: the fingerprint keys more than state resets -- the
+        # transport sends an axis a receiver already holds as a token derived
+        # from it -- and a collision there would silently swap one axis's
+        # values for another's. crc32 and adler32 are structurally different
+        # checksums, so equal contents must collide in both; together they cost
+        # ~3x crc32 alone (1.0 vs 0.36 us on a 256-channel struct axis), still
+        # ~10x cheaper than a cryptographic digest.
+        #
         # dtype goes in as the object, not str(dtype): numpy builds a structured
         # dtype's repr field by field, which costs ~10x the checksum it annotates.
-        return (self.unit, tuple(self.dims), data.dtype, data.shape, zlib.crc32(data))
+        digest = (zlib.crc32(data) << 32) | zlib.adler32(data)
+        return (self.unit, tuple(self.dims), data.dtype, data.shape, digest)
 
 
 @dataclass(eq=False)
diff --git a/tests/messages/test_axisarray.py b/tests/messages/test_axisarray.py
index 82c63671..4bad4a44 100644
--- a/tests/messages/test_axisarray.py
+++ b/tests/messages/test_axisarray.py
@@ -421,6 +421,38 @@ def test_to_xr_dataarray():
     )
 
 
+def _crc32_collision(n: int) -> tuple[bytes, bytes]:
+    """Two different n-byte strings with the same crc32.
+
+    For equal lengths crc32(a) ^ crc32(b) is linear in a ^ b over GF(2), so 33
+    single-bit flips (in a 32-bit space) must contain a combination whose crc32
+    effects cancel; Gaussian elimination finds it.
+    """
+    import zlib
+
+    base = bytes(n)
+    c0 = zlib.crc32(base)
+    basis: dict[int, tuple[int, int]] = {}
+    for bit in range(33):
+        flipped = bytearray(base)
+        flipped[bit // 8] ^= 1 << (bit % 8)
+        value, mask = zlib.crc32(bytes(flipped)) ^ c0, 1 << bit
+        while value:
+            pivot = value.bit_length() - 1
+            if pivot not in basis:
+                basis[pivot] = (value, mask)
+                break
+            value ^= basis[pivot][0]
+            mask ^= basis[pivot][1]
+        if value == 0:
+            other = bytearray(base)
+            for b in range(33):
+                if mask >> b & 1:
+                    other[b // 8] ^= 1 << (b % 8)
+            return base, bytes(other)
+    raise AssertionError("unreachable: 33 vectors in 32 dimensions are dependent")
+
+
 class TestCoordinateAxisFingerprint:
     """``CoordinateAxis.fingerprint`` is derived from the contents, not assigned.
 
@@ -447,6 +479,18 @@ def test_different_contents_differ(self):
             != self._axis(["X", "Y", "Z"]).fingerprint
         )
 
+    def test_a_crc32_collision_is_still_told_apart(self):
+        """The digest is 64 bits (crc32 + adler32): two contents built to share
+        a crc32 must still fingerprint differently, because the transport keys
+        axes a receiver already holds on the fingerprint."""
+        import zlib
+
+        a, b = _crc32_collision(64)
+        assert a != b and zlib.crc32(a) == zlib.crc32(b)
+        fa = CoordinateAxis(data=np.frombuffer(a, np.uint8), dims=["ch"]).fingerprint
+        fb = CoordinateAxis(data=np.frombuffer(b, np.uint8), dims=["ch"]).fingerprint
+        assert fa != fb
+
     def test_reorder_is_detected(self):
         assert (
             self._axis(["A", "B", "C"]).fingerprint
@@ -545,6 +589,29 @@ def test_survives_pickling(self):
         assert restored.__dict__.get("_fingerprint") is not None  # arrived precomputed
         assert restored.fingerprint == expected
 
+    def test_pickling_computes_it_if_untouched(self):
+        """A producer that never touched the fingerprint still ships it, so the
+        first consumer past a process boundary does not recompute it per
+        message."""
+        import pickle
+
+        from ezmsg.core.messagemarshal import MessageMarshal
+
+        axis = self._axis(["A", "B", "C"])
+        assert "_fingerprint" not in axis.__dict__
+        restored = pickle.loads(pickle.dumps(axis))
+        assert restored.__dict__.get("_fingerprint") is not None
+        assert restored.fingerprint == self._axis(["A", "B", "C"]).fingerprint
+
+        # The same through ezmsg's own marshal (protocol 5, out-of-band buffers).
+        msg = AxisArray(
+            np.zeros((2, 3)),
+            dims=["time", "ch"],
+            axes={"time": AxisArray.TimeAxis(fs=10.0), "ch": self._axis(["A", "B", "C"])},
+        )
+        restored_msg = MessageMarshal.load(MessageMarshal.dump(msg))
+        assert restored_msg.axes["ch"].__dict__.get("_fingerprint") is not None
+
     def test_replace_yields_a_fresh_fingerprint(self):
         """``replace`` builds a new axis, so the cache cannot leak across."""
         axis = self._axis(["A", "B"])