diff --git a/build_defs/python.build_defs b/build_defs/python.build_defs
index 07261274..aa4f979d 100644
--- a/build_defs/python.build_defs
+++ b/build_defs/python.build_defs
@@ -548,23 +548,17 @@ def python_wheel(name:str, version:str, hashes:list=None, package_name:str=None,
 
     file_rule = None
     if tool:
-        # Try the urls generated using the default wheel name schemes. If those fail, try
+        # Try the URLs generated using the wheel name schemes. If those fail, try
         # generating a url with the wheel_resolver tool and download that if successful.
-        cmd = ['FOUND=false; DOWNLOAD=""']
-        cmd += ['for URL in ' + ' '.join(urls)]
-        cmd += ['do if wget -q --method=HEAD $URL']
-        cmd += ['then FOUND=true; DOWNLOAD="$URL"']
-        cmd += ['break; fi; done']
-
-        cmd += ['if [ "$FOUND" = true ]']
-        cmd += ['then wget -O "$OUTS" "$DOWNLOAD"']
-        cmd += ['else $TOOL --package ' + package_name + ' --version ' + version + '; fi']
+        cmd = f'$TOOL --package {package_name} --version {version}'
+        if urls:
+            cmd += ' --urls ' + ' '.join(['%s' % url for url in urls])
 
         file_rule = build_rule(
             name = name,
             tag = 'download',
             outs = [name + '.whl'],
-            cmd = '; '.join(cmd),
+            cmd = cmd,
             tools = [tool],
             hashes = hashes if CONFIG.FF_PYTHON_WHEEL_HASHING else None,
             licences = licences if licences else None,
diff --git a/tools/wheel_resolver/resolve.py b/tools/wheel_resolver/resolve.py
index b72084b8..157b3ece 100644
--- a/tools/wheel_resolver/resolve.py
+++ b/tools/wheel_resolver/resolve.py
@@ -10,13 +10,22 @@
 import sys
 
 
-def download(url):
+def try_download(url):
+    """
+    Try to download url to $OUTS. Returns false if
+    it failed.
+    """
     output = os.environ.get("OUTS")
     if output is None:
         logging.critical("No output directory found")
         sys.exit(1)
 
-    urllib.request.urlretrieve(url, output)
+    try:
+        urllib.request.urlretrieve(url, output)
+    except urllib.error.HTTPError:
+        return False
+
+    return True
 
 
 def main():
@@ -42,9 +51,21 @@ def main():
             type=str,
             default=[],
             help='specify architecture')
+    parser.add_argument(
+            '--urls',
+            nargs="*",
+            type=str,
+            default=[],
+            help='URLs to try before looking in wheel index')
 
     args = parser.parse_args()
 
+    # If any URLs were passed, try them first before looking in the wheel index
+    if args.urls:
+        for url in args.urls:
+            if try_download(url):
+                return
+
     # Fetch all available wheel urls from index
     urls = tg.get_download_urls(args.package, args.version)
     if urls is None:
@@ -54,10 +75,11 @@ def main():
     result = tg.get_url(urls, args.arch)
 
     if result is not None:
-        download(result)
-    else:
-        logging.critical("Found %s urls but none are compatible", len(urls))
-        sys.exit(1)
+        if try_download(result):
+            return
+
+    logging.critical("Found %s URLs but none are compatible", len(urls))
+    sys.exit(1)
 
 
 main()