UE5.4 Niagara Laser Pointer: End point wrong after hit + length parameter ignored

Goal

When the laser line traces into geometry, the Niagara beam should end exactly at the impact point; when it doesn’t hit anything, it should extend to a max distance.

What’s happening

No hit: Works as expected — beam direction and end point look correct at max distance.
With hit:
Beam direction skews (doesn’t match the weapon’s forward/aim direction).
Beam end point stays at its default length instead of snapping to the line trace impact point.
A User Vector parameter I’m using to drive beam length in Niagara appears to be ignored after collision.

would any one have any suggestions on how to fix this? If my question is not clear, please let me know and I will clarify