Lack of beam in photon cannon

[SirAdamant]

Instead of shooting a solid beam, the photon cannon seems to fire a loose line of particles which dissipate rapidly and produce no effects either than damage and minor knockback. This issue does not occur in 1.10.2, but has occured in all versions of 1.12.2 that I've tested thus far.

Is this a just a glitch on my part, or was the effect of the cannon reworked? I'm looking to use refraction in a large survival modpack, and I like the idea of having a high-tier multi-tool in the form of a laser, so is there any fix?