Don't bother. A few little rust holes won't make any difference at all in performance.

If I rustoleum over the holes Am I done and done? Or will the rusties spread?

Also, how good a job do I have to do with sanding the rust off? If I half ass it can I expect the rustoleum to still keep the rust in check?

Keeping it dry and cleaned out will be best to keep it from rusting more

Won't you burn off the rustoleum when you use the pit? I have a old drum pit too that my dad used when he was living while growing up and the whole bottom half is gone. I was planning on cutting out a section from a new barrel using a angle grinder cutting wheel and possibly riveting it in place.

Yeah, no paint will stand up to fire for longer than a couple of minutes, and give off nasty fumes in the process. Definitely nothing you want in your food.

Angle grinder and wire wheel.

They make high heat paint for grills and firepits specifically.

I just refinished mine and burned some wood for a few hours, paint seems to be holding up just fine.

Yeah, I've used it too. It's good to like 1200°, supposedly, which is enough for gas grills on surfaces that don't get direct flame contact. It does not stand up to direct wood flames, or even the exterior surface of metal exposed to wood flames, like a fire pit ring.

Interesting, good to know. I was more concerned with stopping the spread of rust which had almost engulfed the entire firepit (it is a metal bowl model on legs, basically).

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I wanted to use this as a test to see how well it holds up, but I cannot comment on longer term use.

I tried using it on the exterior of a fire pit ring, with full surface prep and curing in good conditions. It burned off in 2-3 uses except for ~2" along the ground.

Well that is not encouraging lol

At the end of the day, it’s a barrel pit.
Keep using it until you absolutely can’t anymore. Then wrap it with foil and continue for as long as possible. When that doesn’t work anymore, toss it and get another.
Those are very thin cheap metal and aren’t made to last.

It will eventually spread, unless the rust has been COMPLETELY removed (by grinding, cutting, etc)- which paint will not do. It's hardly different than having a water leak instead a wall of your bathroom - painting the wall won't solve the problem.

After rust is removed you weld the holes. Then sand/grind them smooth

What oldtimey_chain85 said, get another barrel and cut it in half. Modify the new piece so it will fit in the old pit. You may want to secure it with rivets or nut/bolts or weld but it probably isn't necessary. And now you'll have an extra half when needed.

I'm talking about the exterior of the grill, the inside is mostly ok and I don't think it gets that hot. It generally stays open until the there's no flame, just glowing charcoal.

Note it gets extra rusty b/c we're close to ocean