Nitrostarch explosives have been used to a limited extent for over 50 years. When these explosives were first introduced, nitrostarch was the principal explosive ingredient in their composition. Of recent years, because of the trend toward the low-sensitivity, noncap sensitive nitrocarbonitrates and ammonium nitrate-oil mixtures, certain grades of explosives are being produced with low amounts of sensitizers. Some of these explosives today contain a very large percentage of ammonium nitrate, and nitrostarch is used only in small quantities to act as a sensitizer.