A method and network device are disclosed for multicast forwarding. In one embodiment, the method includes receiving at a node configured to use a bit-indexed forwarding table a multicast message comprising an incoming message bit array. The method further includes comparing the incoming message bit array to a first neighbor bit array within a first forwarding table entry, and determining that for at least one relative bit position in the bit arrays a corresponding destination node is both a destination for the message and a reachable destination from a first neighboring node. The method further includes forwarding toward the first neighboring node a copy of the message, where a first node on the path of the forwarded message is not configured to use a respective bit-indexed forwarding table. An embodiment of the device includes a network interface, a memory and a processor configured to perform steps of the method.