Most advice says you should be aiming for approx. 10-12 yards gapping between clubs. I'd visit your local pro and ask for a gap fitting. They'll be able to put you on a launch monitor and take you through the bag and see exactly where things need tweaking. It may be that you're creating gaps by altering the lofts, without seeing the numbers from the monitor you won't really know. Bear in mind that if you have holes on your home course that absolutely require you to hit a specific distance then you may want to factor this into the equation as well.

Gap you clubs by carry distance not lofts. You want 12-15 yards between clubs, so, find a hybrid that you carry 12-15 yards further than your longest iron.

Steve

This should be determined by yardages with each club, don't worry about the degrees of the club.

Can’t go by lofts alone when gapping clubs, especially going from hybrids to irons. Different heads, lengths, and likely different shafts. If you have access to a launch monitor see what gaps you have with your current clubs. As others have said ideally 10-12 yards through the set, but 15 yards going from your hybrid to your 4 iron should not keep you up at night. You can always grip down a little on the hybrid to take a few yards off if your in between.

FWIW from a short hitter - my 6 iron is 29.5º x 38" and 5H is 26.5º x 40", both standard game improvement. There is 11 yards difference when tested on the course (154 vs. 165) so the 21º at stock loft and replacing the 23º with an 18º may be the answer.

The very reason I only carry 13 clubs. As a short hitter my gaps are not large and there is no point in carrying two clubs that give me identical results. I sometime double up on my 54 degree Vokey to put two different bounces in the bag if I want to carry 14. Everyone should play what works best for them.