Q: I was planning on playing a dwarf ranger with a
crossbow, but ran into a quandary. The description of a
light crossbow says it normally takes a standard action to
reload. Does this mean you can fire a light crossbow only
once every other round? How does this affect Rapid Shot
and multiple attacks earned for higher levels?

A: It appears that you’re misreading the light crossbow
description. Loading a light crossbow requires a move action—
not a standard action—and provokes attacks of opportunity, as
described in the weapon’s description on page 115 and in Table
8–2: Actions in Combat in the PH. Thus, you can fire a light
crossbow once every round as long as you spend your move
action to reload it.
You can’t fire a light crossbow more than once per round
(whether due to a high base attack bonus or the Rapid Shot
feat) unless you are capable of reloading the crossbow as a free
action (such as with a repeating crossbow or with the Rapid
Reload feat). Once this requirement is met, you can fire a light
crossbow as many times per round as you could fire a bow
(once per attack granted by your base attack bonus, with one
additional attack if you have Rapid Shot).