In reality, a bullet isn't a magical death ray
Gunshot wounds to the head 'are no longer fatal': Victims have a 42% chance of survival, study reveals
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-3879522/Gunshot-wounds-head-no-longer-fatal-Victims-42-chance-survival-study-reveals.html
Most of the time, Cage was shot by Rita in the head at a military facility, where immediate medical attention would have been available. Within 5 minutes, she would have been arrested, and he would have been receiving emergency medical treatment. It isn't even remotely plausible that, out of hundreds or thousands of loops, they wouldn't have been able to keep him alive even once. Statistically, he would have survived a fair percentage of the time. Even self-inflicted gunshot wounds to the head, which are inherently at point-blank range, are survived 20% of the time.
Keep in mind that she always used a handgun, and military cartridges use full metal jacket/case bullets, as per the Hague Convention of 1899. This type of bullet does the least amount of tissue damage, all else being equal. Granted, the Hague Convention may have been set aside given that the enemies weren't human, but it is still a handgun, and a particularly weak one at that (SIG-Sauer P226R [9mm NATO]); far less powerful than a military rifle.
Also, she was far too nonchalant about shooting him in the head; acting as though she'd done it countless times before, even though from her perspective, she was always doing it for the first time ever. Just because you think you know that there will be no consequences (there's no way you can be 100% sure; she lost the "reset" ability; he could have lost it too), doesn't mean that shooting your new friend in the head is as trivial as checking the mail, unless her character was intended to be a raging psychopath. share