Edit: I figured out how to get an upgrade. One has to click on the dollar amount next to the weapon name to be able to choose one of the A/B/C/D/E upgrades. One per weapon upgrade. Not intuitive to me. Probably due to the lack of adequate tooltip text. I had been under the impression that the weapon upgrades would cost money, like they usually do in other games.
I fail to see how to buy Range right away as it costs more then $25. Hitting prestige before getting at least 1 golden ball is the same as hitting Reset so umm doesnt really help if one gets stuck multiple times.