I can't remember where I read it but something that bends into this territory is a "blaster shot" of laser/plasma. Scientists have recently figured out/tested a way to fire a burst of light and have wavelength and refraction interplay and create a self-reinforcing bolt like a vortex ring. Damage dealt by the laser weapon would be in the form of plasma.

**Edit:** I didn't find the paper but I did find the name of the relevant effects,
[Self-focusing](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-focusing) and [filament propagation](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filament_propagation). Related to piping laser over distances is [this](http://lasermatter.umd.edu/Publications%20PDF/optica-1-1-5.pdf) paper.